Lando Norris ‘expecting to win’ Hungarian Grand Prix but pole star claims he does not need a victory to prove a point

If you believe the following sentence is the whole truth, you will believe anything. “It’s not that I suddenly need to do it and prove something. I don’t need to.”

That’s what Lando Norris said after taking an excellent pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and, curiously, he was partly right in what he said. He’s driving very well, in his best form, but the truth is that if he manages to get his McLaren across the finish line on Sunday in first place, he’ll be very relieved. And if he doesn’t…

That is largely because he and his team have scuppered their solid chances of victory in the last four races, most recently at Silverstone a fortnight ago. He sat out too long, put on the wrong tyres and overshot the line in the pits.

Those mistakes came after a crash with Max Verstappen in Austria, after losing pole position by dropping straight to third in Spain and after deliberating for too long about whether to change tyres when the safety car came out in Canada. Until then, he was doing very well that day in the wet. So the result is that he is 84 points behind Verstappen despite being in a car with world championship potential. It’s a shame.

Judging by his recent comments, he has done some soul-searching, as his self-critical nature suggested he would. More broadly, his moments of shock have led to the question of whether he has the mettle to take on Verstappen, whose own carbon quality has never required laboratory examination.

Norris had an excellent qualifying session on Saturday and now hopes to win on Sunday.

Sunday’s race will be watched by a full house at the Hungaroring circuit with a capacity of 70,000 spectators.

After taking pole for the second time in four races, Norris’ task is at least helped by the fact that team-mate Oscar Piastri is starting alongside him – the first time McLaren has occupied the front row since 2012. Can they find a way to unite to attack Max, who starts third after an eventful qualifying? Just when it looked like Norris had done enough, leading the timesheets with Verstappen’s final lap completed, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed into the advertising hoardings, causing a delay.

There were two minutes and 13 seconds left on the clock, a penalty shootout in one lap. Or so it seemed. But as most of the drivers were queuing up in the pit lane for the final check, it started to rain. The pitch was in tatters and no improvements were possible.

Norris therefore stayed safe, 0.022 seconds ahead of Piastri, while Verstappen was 0.046 seconds behind.

Although Norris hopes to win, he said: “It’s not like I suddenly have to do it and prove something, I don’t need to.”

As for Mercedes, it was a bad day. Lewis Hamilton was fifth and George Russell, blaming himself, 17th. What else? Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was on the home straight, crashed, but that’s nothing new. Back to the pole man: “We are in the best position, regardless of the weather conditions,” he said.

“I hope to win, and if I don’t, it’s not been a good day. The car is feeling good, I’m driving well, so it’s clear what the objective is.” What were we saying?