Piastri surprised by Ferrari pole as Norris explains conditions seemed to 'punish' McLaren in Hungary Qualifying

Formula 1 Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri admits he "wasn’t expecting to be second to a Ferrari" in Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, following Charles Leclerc's shock pole position.

Piastri and McLaren team mate Lando Norris had dominated all three practice sessions and the opening two segments of Qualifying on Saturday, but fell short at the very end and will start second and third respectively.

"Charles has been quick all weekend and even this morning he was closer than we expected," said Piastri after missing out on pole by just 0.026s.

"Things just changed a little bit and I guess he did a very good job, so well done to him. I wasn’t expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend, but he’s done a good job. It’s going to be a fun race tomorrow with a bit more involved."

The Australian failed to improve with his final effort in Q3, and along with other drivers believed the change in wind direction and track temperature played a pivotal role in the outcome of pole position.

"It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and just meant a lot of the corners felt completely different," said Piastri.

"My first lap in Q3 felt pretty terrible because I wasn’t used to it, and then I thought the second lap was a lot better but it was even slower.

"Difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution, but I was a bit surprised that we couldn’t go quicker than that."

Norris echoed the same comments as his team mate, having fallen 0.041s short of taking top spot for Sunday's 70-lap race.

"Charles did a good job on the last lap, [he] probably risked a little bit more in these conditions," said Norris.

"The conditions changed a lot and really seemed to punish us in a bigger way. Not too many complaints, we thought we both did some good laps at the end and we were just slow, so nothing to complain of but Charles did a good job."

The Briton sits 16 points behind Piastri in the Drivers' Championship having finished behind him last time out in Belgium, and admitted the focus was on getting the win regardless of his starting position.

"I want to go forwards and I want to win, and if I can do that then I’ll get points," said Norris.

"I think it’s going to be an exciting race, I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles, so I’m looking forward to it."