Norris denies Hungary a ’must win’ race

Lando Norris is trying to play down the mounting pressure on his shoulders to start racking up grand prix wins.

Amid McLaren’s resurgent pace at present, the 24-year-old has established himself as consistently quicker than his impressive younger teammate Oscar Piastri this year.

But despite breaking through for his maiden win in Miami, Norris has often had the fastest car ever since - and failed to secure a second victory.

Heading into Hungary, some observers said they thought the British driver was perhaps ’too nice’ to win.

"I can be a lot more of a d*ck and act like an idiot and have that persona and make people think that," Norris told reporters on Thursday, "but I don’t need to and I don’t want to.

"When I put the helmet on, I don’t hear what people say."

Norris is back on pole - the third of his career - at the Hungaroring, but it’s still within memory of his recent home British GP, which he and McLaren should have won.

"There are some rumours starting to come from the owners of the McLaren Group from the Middle East, wondering why there has only been just one victory," former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos told Ziggo Sport on Saturday.

"They’ve definitely had more chances than that."

So is Sunday a ’must win’ for Norris?

"I mean, I don’t think so," he hit back. "Every quali is important. Every race is important. So it’s not all of a sudden I need to do it and I need to prove my point.

"I know we’ve missed out on some, but we don’t need to get back into all that."

McLaren boss Andrea Stella also sounds like he’s trying to lift the pressure off the team and Norris’ shoulders.

"Max Verstappen is still the driver to beat," he told DAZN after qualifying on Saturday. "He has dominated F1 in recent seasons and we are in a good position now to challenge him.

"We have two drivers ahead of Max now so we can play with him from a strategic point of view, but there are also two Ferraris and a Mercedes behind us and things can change quite a bit," Stella added.

As for the missed opportunities for both McLaren and Norris recently, he answered: "We could have done things better, but highlighting McLaren’s mistakes would be looking at things from the wrong angle.

"The achievements are incredible and if we have a missed opportunity it is a moment to learn," Stella added.