The Mercedes driver was the last driver to cross the line in Q3 at the Hungaroring, and overturned Max Verstappen's benchmark lap to claim his first pole position of the season.
The qualifying format was tweaked as part of an 'alternative tyre allocation' trial, where only hard tyres could be used in Q1, medium tyres in Q2, and softs in Q3, which yielded a competitive qualifying session.
Norris broke into the 1m16s with his opening gambit, a 1m16.904s to sit atop the order, but the McLaren driver had his hopes dashed when Verstappen threw down the gauntlet to set a 1m16.612s.
Lewis Hamilton then separated the pair that had locked out the front row at Silverstone with a 1m16.738s, showcasing the potential that Mercedes had shown in glimmers over the course of the weekend.
When it came to the second and final series of runs, Verstappen's first sector had been less impressive than his first. Despite improvement in the second part of the lap, he fell short of his earlier time and left him vulnerable to an attack from the drivers behind.
Norris got close, just falling short after setting a 1m16.694s, but Hamilton was up on Verstappen's delta by the close of the second sector. Although the Mercedes appeared to step out of line in the final couple of corners, the seven-time champion held on to claim a first pole since 2021.
The McLarens locked out the second row as Oscar Piastri set the best middle sector of the session, as Zhou Guanyu was another driver to star in qualifying as the Alfa Romeo driver put his car onto fifth on Sunday's grid.
Source: Autosport