Lando Norris has asserted that McLaren is not in contention for pole position at the Hungaroring despite its strong pace on Friday.
Norris ended the second practice session in second place, two-tenths of a second down on pace-setter Charles Leclerc.
His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also displayed strong performance for the Woking-based outfit, as the Australian wound up in fifth at the end of the day.
However, Norris downplayed McLaren’s potential for the weekend, stating that it was running its engine in a higher mode for the day of practice.
“It [the pace] is good, I think the car is just performing well, I felt comfortable,” Norris said.
“I think today was a bit of an overshow of our performance because we’ve turned up more than what other people have.
“We’re definitely not fighting for the Ferrari and Red Bull positions, but we seem in a good place. I’m not too sure about the long-run stuff, I’ve not had a look yet.
“But things are maybe a bit ahead of where they were at Paul Ricard, which is a good thing. But it’s still just Friday, the weather is meant to change tomorrow.
“We have to wait and see. Things at the minute are a little bit better than where they are, so that’s a positive.”
McLaren introduced a sizeable upgrade at the French Grand Prix last time out, with Norris saying that the team is in a better position this weekend having had more time to analyse the new parts.
“Today and this weekend, we’ve just managed to analyse a lot of the stuff from last week, with the new floor and new bits,” he said.
“Also with a new track, we managed to place this car in a more optimised position so it can perform better and sit more where it wants to sit, basically.”
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