Piastri bounced back for drought-breaking McLaren F1 front row

Norris will start from pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix after besting Piastri by just 0.022s in qualifying.

The last all-McLaren front row came courtesy of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The qualifying performance in the Hungaroring built on a promising showing in final practice where the papaya pair topped the timesheets.

Norris' best lap came early in Qualifying 3, while Piastri's came on his second run with a time set seconds before Yuki Tsunoda triggered a red flag.

“The first lap of Q3 I made a massive mistake at Turn 4,” the Australian explained.

“It was just a pretty poor lap. The last lap was pretty solid.

“Of course, when you cross the line and see it's so close you think of all the little things you could have done better, but honestly, it was a solid lap.

“Pretty happy with it. Obviously, the car's been really quick this weekend and a good opportunity tomorrow.”

Piastri had far from an ideal start to the weekend, losing time in both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 on Friday.

That left him slightly behind the curve in terms of the programme the team had hoped to work through.

“FP1 was good. There was good learning in that yesterday,” Piastri said.

“Maybe not quite as much as I would have liked but I would say 90 percent of it.

“Feeling pretty confident for tomorrow and see what we can do.”

For Norris, the Hungarian GP will mark his third pole position in F1, and second of the season.

“Always, the pole positions are satisfying,” he said.

“Great for us as a team with a first and second… and tricky conditions to do it in.

“Some nice laps, especially my Q3 lap. I only had one set of new tyres and we decided to put them on early, just in case the rain came – which kind of didn't – but we set a good enough lap to stay on pole.”

Behind the two McLarens is championship leader Max Verstappen, the only Red Bull Racing in the first half of the grid after Sergio Perez crashed out in Qualifying 1.

A priority for Norris and Piastri in Sunday's race will be maintaining the advantage over the Dutchman to help their team continue eating into Red Bull's points advantage.

Overtaking around the Hungaroring is not simple but nor is it impossible.

The best opportunity however is at the race start, with a long run into the slowest corner on the track.

“I don't think I've started this high up at Budapest before,” Piastri said, reflecting on his F1 and junior career.

“It's obviously a long run to Turn 1 and gives and opportunity for the slipstream behind.

“Starting from fourth last year, I had a clean start and got to second, so I know that a lot can happen at Turn 1.

“I think get a good start and that always helps things, but it's a long run and there'll be other people involved, I'm sure.”

From the team's perspective, the critical factor will be on keeping it clean and surviving the first corner, a point not lost on Norris who is looking to further buy his way into the drivers' championship fight.

“We've always kept it clean,” Norris said of his battles with Piastri.

“I think we've treated each other well, and given each other respect, helped each other when we needed to.

“No worries from our part.”

The 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix begins at 15:00 local time (23:00 AEST).