Stella hails McLaren's breakthrough pole but warns Ferrari remain favourites for Hungarian GP

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella praised the team's latest upgrade package after Lando Norris secured pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, describing the result as a reward for months of hard work while cautioning that Ferrari remain the benchmark heading into Sunday's race.

Norris claimed his maiden pole position of the 2026 Formula 1 season with a superb final lap in Q3, while team-mate Oscar Piastri's qualifying was compromised after he encountered Lewis Hamilton's slow-moving Ferrari at Turn 1 on his final flying lap. Piastri had to abort the attempt and initially qualified fifth before Hamilton's post-session penalty promoted him up the grid.

For Stella, Norris' pole position validated the development work carried out at McLaren's Woking factory, with the new upgrade package delivering the performance gains the team had expected.

"Securing Pole position was a fantastic and somewhat surprising result for the whole team," Stella said.

"The new upgrades we brought to the track performed exactly as we had anticipated, and this outcome is a testament to the months of relentless effort from everyone back at the factory in developing and delivering these parts.

"While we have a lot of progress to still make, today confirms that our development direction seems the right one, and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved. My thanks go to the team, both at the factory and trackside, for their hard work and commitment."

Stella also praised the execution of Norris' qualifying session while expressing sympathy for Piastri, who was unable to demonstrate the full pace of McLaren's updated package after missing the opening practice session on Friday.

"On Lando's side, the team were able to maximise everything which enabled him to deliver a great final lap," he explained.

"On Oscar's side, he made good progress throughout the whole of Friday after he had missed FP1 to give Leo the chance to run his second free practice of the year. Oscar ran the new upgrade package for the first time in FP3, however he was not able to show his full potential in Qualifying today as his final lap was impeded."

Despite locking out a strong starting position with Norris on pole, Stella believes the race will be far from straightforward, pointing to Ferrari's impressive long-run pace throughout the weekend.

"While we will certainly aim for victory starting from the front, we remain realistic about the challenge ahead," he said.

"Our competitors, especially Ferrari, have shown very strong pace all weekend, and we believe they are still the favourites for the race," he continued.

"We know we have more work to do to be in this position consistently, but the good news is that we are in the fight. We hope to capitalise on this opportunity and deliver a strong performance for both drivers."