Lando Norris insisted he does not need to prove a point by converting pole position into victory over Max Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris, 24, will enjoy the best seat in the house when the five red lights go out for Sunday’s 70-lap race following the British driver’s third pole of his career.
Verstappen will be third on the grid at the Hungaroring after Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri finished second to secure McLaren’s first front-row lockout since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton took pole that day in Interlagos – his last dance for McLaren before he joined Mercedes the following season – with Jenson Button alongside him.
With Button, who went on to win, long gone and Hamilton – despite ending his two-and-a-half-year winless run at Silverstone a fortnight ago – no longer the dominant force he once was, Norris has emerged as Britain’s leading star.
He heads into Sunday’s 13th round of 24 second in the championship and with an outside chance, albeit the slimmest of ones, of beating Verstappen to the title. The deficit stands at 84 points.
However Norris could, and possibly should, have won the last four races but for errors by driver and team.
And with McLaren holding a clear advantage over their rivals at this low-speed venue on the outskirts of Budapest, the expectation weighs on Norris to ensure his unwanted streak does not extend to five.
But when Norris was asked if it is vital he secures just his second career win – and thus laying down a championship marker to Verstappen – the Bristolian replied: “I don’t think it is important.
“Every single qualifying and every single race is important so it is not like all of a sudden I need to do it and I need to prove a point, I don’t.
“We have done the best we could in every race and we have missed out on some opportunities. I don’t need to go back into all of that stuff.
“We are always trying to maximise every race and every point and the more we can get back on Max and the more, as a team, we can get back on Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, the better.
“But there is no point or emphasis on trying to beat a particular someone or something. I am expecting to win and if I don’t, it hasn’t been a good day.
“The car is going well and I am driving well, so it is obvious what the aim is for tomorrow.”
A win for Norris would ignite hope that Verstappen’s pursuit of a fourth straight title is not the forgone conclusion it once appeared after he won five of the opening seven rounds.
Red Bull have brought a significant upgrade to penultimate round before the summer shutdown but Norris has been in control of the weekend so far, topping two of the three practice sessions before holding his nerve in an eventful qualifying which effectively ended two minutes and 13 seconds prematurely after RB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed out.
Norris led out a gaggle of cars for the restart but a drizzle of rain meant none of the major players improved. Norris finished 0.022 sec clear of Piastri, with Verstappen less than half-a-tenth back.
“I love competition but I would like to be on top of the competition and at the moment I feel we are chasing and having difficult weekends,” said Verstappen. “It is better to be realistic than sitting here and spreading false hope.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is fighting to save his career after he ended up in the wall during Q1 for the second race in a row. He is due to start 16th.
Mercedes had high expectations as they bid for a third win on the spin but Hamilton could muster only fifth – more than six tenths behind Norris – while George Russell, the pole man at Silverstone, fell at the first hurdle and qualified only 17th.
“It was a total under-performance from literally everybody involved here,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
“Losing a car in Q1 is not on and at the end we did not have the pace, so it was a very, very disappointing day.”