Norris takes pole ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri at Hungarian GP. Verstappen to start from 3rd

BUDAPEST (AP) — McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row for the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of points leader Max Verstappen after a stellar qualifying session for the British team on Saturday.

Norris scored his third career pole position, and will have his teammate starting right behind him as he aims for a second win of the season. Norris won in Miami in May and has come close to another victory with four podium finishes since then. He took pole in Spain last month and in Russia in 2021.

“We’ve come into this weekend and the last few confident we can fight for pole and that’s exactly what we’ve done," Norris said. "We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us.”

Verstappen, who will start from third on the grid, is trying to claim a fourth straight Formula One title. The Dutchman leads the driver’s race with 255 points, with Norris in second with 171. The Hungarian GP marks the start of the second half of the season.

Verstappen has won at the Hungaroring the past two years despite not starting from pole, including a win from a 10th-place start in 2022. But the Dutchman had no problem acknowledging that McLaren is providing Red Bull with its stiffest test of the past three seasons. Norris topped practice on Friday and earlier on Saturday before showing his dominance when it mattered.

“I tried. The whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was the case in qualifying. It just wasn’t enough, and it is difficult to pinpoint why," Verstappen said. “I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition. But at the moment I feel we are chasing, and I don’t back out of a fight, but it’s trickier.”

It was the first one-two finish in qualifying for McLaren in 12 years.

“It's an amazing result for the team,” Piastri said, before adding that the main goal is to keep both the papaya-colored cars at the front come the race's finish.

“Of course I want to get into the lead, but we have both cars on the front row and we are trying to win this championship as a team, and we will be smart,” the Australian said. “We want to keep it one-two and we will fight it amongst ourselves to see who gets one.”

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