It's a measure of how far McLaren has come since they introduced their latest upgrade package in Austria that Lando Norris was insisting that he was disappointed to only finish in third place in today's qualifying session in Hungary.
Norris had started the British GP on the front row and briefly wrested the lead from Max Verstappen at the start of the race, before ultimately having to settle for second place at the finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
But this time it was Hamilton who had the upper hand over both Norris and Verstappen, clinching pole position for tomorrow's Hungarian GP with Verstappen in second just 0.003s behind, and Norris also within a tenth of the pair.
Norris felt that the gap has been surmountable if not for his own mistakes on the final push lap at the Hungaroring, although he wasn't complaining too much about starting on the second row alongside team mate Oscar Piastri.
"If you're within a tenth of pole, it feels like you should be on pole if you put the lap together," he explained during post-qualifying interviews in parc ferme, insisting there was "definitely a tenth in it" to be found.
"I'm disappointed, I guess," he admitted, adding that his crucial Q3 lap "wasn't the cleanest" as he tried to balance risk and reward for pushing too hard
"There's always an element of risk involved in trying to push a little bit more," he commented. "I don't know how much it was between me and P1 but there was definitely a tenth in it.
"As an overall picture I'm happy the team did a good job, P3 and P4 for both of us, so a good weekend so far," he acknowledged. "But as a driver I'm not the happiest. I feel like I made too many mistakes, and that cost me today."
Norris had also featured strongly in Friday's second practice after FP1 had proved largely a washout, finishing second quickest behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. That gave him confidence in the MCL60's race pace tomorrow.
He said that the car "was pretty strong, just as strong as we probably were in Silverstone," and that made him feel "excited" for their prospects tomorrow especially with Piastri starting right alongside him.
"Frustrating but P3 is a good position, so still a good day," he noted. "I'm up there with the good guys, we've got two cars up there, so hopefully we can use them and get some good points tomorrow."
However Norris is also keenly aware that the Hungaroring - often compared to a dustbowl Monaco in terms of being tight and twisty, with barriers threatening the unwary on all side - is not a good place for overtaking.
Norris agreed that it was this aspect that was "probably why I'm a bit more frustrated than I normally would be with not achieving his maximum potential today."
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