What Lando Norris was spotted doing in the McLaren garage after Hungarian GP disappointment

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Lando Norris will be glad the Belgian Grand Prix is just around the corner so he can put the frustration of Sunday’s race in Hungary behind him.

McLaren would have been delighted to have locked out the front row of the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix but Lando Norris would have been aware he was in a precarious position.

The long run down to the first corner is why there’s such a poor pole position to race win conversation rate at the Hungaroring and Norris was the latest driver to be caught out in this scenario.

Strong starts from Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen saw him briefly drop to 3^rd and even when the Red Bull driver handed back the place to Norris, his teammate already had the all-important track position.

Norris found himself in the lead of the race after the final round of pit stops due to McLaren implementing an ultra-conservative strategy to protect their positions on the track.

The 24-year-old did eventually yield the lead of the race to Piastri but was visibly upset after the race and Norris was frustrated on the team radio.

Reviewing the race on the Pit Pass Podcast, journalist Julianne Cerasoli has shared what Norris was spotted doing behind the scenes after the Grand Prix.

It was clear in the media pen after the race that Norris wasn’t happy and he may have been wondering how he managed to miss out on another victory this season.

He’s slowly chipping away at Max Verstappen’s lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, but needs to put a chain of wins together to really crank up the pressure on the triple-world champion.

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Lando Norris left upset in the McLaren garage after the Hungarian Grand Prix

Talking about what was spotted in the paddock after the race, Cerasoli said: “Norris, didn’t deal really well with the situation.

“A photographer told me he saw him crying a little bit and the mechanics were trying to cover him and surrounding him so nobody could see it, he managed to get a picture.

“It’s been a bumpy journey for him really in the past few weeks, I guess he will make good use of the break after Spa.”

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Lando Norris needs to be ruthless to fight Max Verstappen in the F1 Drivers’ Championship

It’s understandable that Norris was upset following his performance at the Hungaroring as one run down to turn one effectively cost him victory.

Norris can reflect on the start of this season as the moment in his F1 career where he established himself among the elite drivers.

However, opportunities – some within his control and others outside of it – have limited his points scoring and potentially derailed a real opportunity to challenge for the title.

Verstappen has won just over half the races this season which compared to last year’s campaign is a significant loss of control over the championship.

He’s been aided by the fact that all six races he’s failed to win have been spread between six different drivers.

While that might cost Norris in his hunt to challenge at the top of the standings, Sergio Perez’s struggles at Red Bull are opening the door for McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.

The team’s strategy in Hungary ultimately pointed towards that being their main goal this year but had a few other results gone Norris’s way, they might have thought about prioritising him rather than allowing Piastri to win his first Grand Prix.