Lando Norris was left unhappy after a disappointing weekend at the Hungaroring, which saw him fall from joint leader in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship standings to fourth.
The British racer struggled in the first qualifying session, held in wet conditions, with Norris calling his seventh place one of his worst sessions of his career. He lost a couple of places on the opening lap but was able to recover one back to finish eighth.
“I need to get back to scoring big points to keep my title challenge on track and that’s what I’m setting out to do at the Norisring,” said Norris. “There’s no denying that Hungary was a huge disappointment but we’ll bounce back – and that starts in Germany next month.
“Qualifying on Friday evening in Hungary was a big struggle on a wet track. I pitted for a change to the car and immediately made up over a second on the one flying lap I managed to get in afterwards. It was only good enough for P7 – one of my worst ‘qually’ results ever.
“In the opening race, I was forced to concede places going into Turns 1 and 2. I saved my tyres for a few laps and overtook Mick [Schumacher] for eighth around the outside in to the first corner which was a really nice move. I had really good pace and caught P7 but couldn’t quite get ahead.”
The Carlin driver had a better second qualifying session but another dreadful start saw him fall to the rear of the field, and from there he was only able to finish a lowly fourteenth.
His final race saw him have a better start but he dropped from third to fourth, but despite finishing on the road in fourth, he inherited third when Guan Yu Zhou was penalised for going off road and gaining an advantage as he battled with Norris into the turn six chicane in the closing stages of the race.
“My car felt very good in the second qualifying session,” said Norris. “The pace was good enough for ‘pole’ but I made too many mistakes. I stalled at the start of Race 2 which ruined my race straightaway then made a better start in Race 3 but still dropped a place.
“Norisring is next up and like Pau, it’s a venue that’ll be totally new to me. But I showed at Pau I am capable of learning a track quickly so I have no problem in that respect and I’m more determined than ever to have a successful weekend there after Hungary.”
