Norris: A challenge to know how much to push and save

Following his podium at the previous Formula 1 race in Silverstone, Norris tried his best to downplay McLaren's chances in Hungary, claiming the MCL60 was bad in low speed corners, of which their was abundance at the Hungaroring.

But third in Qualifying less than a tenth off pole, and second in the race refuted the Briton's statement, as the McLaren now proved to be a fast car at three different tracks (Austria, Silverstone, and Hungaroring) and in different conditions.

But Norris insisted his race in Budapest was far from easy, especially as he was under attack from Perez on the final stint, not to mention losing his position at the start to teammate Oscar Piastri who capitalized on Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton's tussle at the start.

"There was a moment when they told me Checo did a 22.3 and I did a 23.2. I was like, 'hmm, OK. Game over'. Then I had traffic and it made my life tough," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

"Degradation was tricky today. The tyres felt like they held in well, then they dropped off and came back to you. The stints were all over the place depending on where you were in the stint.

"But at the end of the race the tyres came back to me a bit and I managed to maintain the gap to Checo. So, stressful. Even in the middle of the race I was like 'I want to chill for a bit'. In the back of my head I knew Perez is in a Red Bull and you see Max pulling away.

"A lot of it is tyre degradation," the McLaren star added, pointing out his race difficulties. "It's not necessarily they are way quicker over one lap, it's just their degradation. You need to make sure you are good at the end of the stints in case he catches me and to be able to race and put up a fight.

"It's a challenge to know how much to push and save," the eight-time podium sitter maintained.

Norris appeared to be frustrated over the team radio, even snapping at his engineer a couple of times; he clarified: "I was hoping to keep up with Max a little more. I was frustrated at the start. I got unlucky.

"I tried to turn in three times and I couldn't because Max and Lewis went in so hard - I guess none of them wanted to let up, so Oscar got all of us.

"Just a wonderful day. I was just stressed. At some points I'm chilling but sometimes it's tough. I'm in a slower car to these guys and trying to save the tyres more and be quicker and push, it's not an easy job.

"Trying to keep it in track limits, not damaging the car over kerbs, not lock up. So sometimes I have to focus. When people are chatting, they are giving me good information.

"But I'm not very good at dealing with this, it's something I'm working on. But I'm happy," Norris concluded.

Piastri finished fifth, and lost out to Norris after the first round of pit stops, McLaren pitting the latter as a response to Hamilton's undercut attempt, pitting the Australian after his teammate, while the #81 McLaren did not seem to have the pace after that.

"First stint was good. Second and third stints were average," Piastri told Sky. "Just lacking a lot of pace. Not too sure why. Just struggled a lot with the tyres. Something to review.

"I feel I did a lot of good work in the first stint and struggled in the next two. Happy to hang on to P5. At one point I thought we would be further back than that.

"We will have a look at what I could have done better. Obviously the car is capable of more than that," the highly-rated rookie admitted.

"So we will look at what I can do better to predict the tyres and learn. It's only the second race I've had like that with multiple pit stops and a lot of deg.

"So some struggles are expected in some way but I want to do a better job than that," Piastri concluded.