Norris “would have loved to be on pole” at Zandvoort
Having achieved a clean sweep of free practice fastest laps, Lando Norris has revealed that he “would have loved to be on pole” for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
McLaren has looked untouchable throughout the entire weekend at Zandvoort. Lando Norris topped all three practice sessions before Oscar Piastri snatched the pole position away in the all-important moment.
Although Max Verstappen came close to McLaren with his final qualifying lap, the Woking-based squad managed to secure their 69th front row lock-out, surpassing Ferrari for second on the all-time list behind Mercedes’ 82.
Asked to comment on his last two hot laps in Q3, Norris said: “I mean, both felt pretty good. It feels quick around here, first of all, so I’ve been feeling pretty good the whole weekend, always in a good flow around here, which is important. Both my laps were good.
“I don’t think many people improved on their second runs, so I don’t know if the track got a little bit trickier or slower in the second run, but both were pretty close, I think. Again, within half a tenth or a tenth of pole position. So, yeah, tricky also with the wind. It can easily just favour you or not favour you.
“And yeah, one hundredth is pretty minimal. Even coming out of the last corner, I’m a little bit up and I lose like two hundredths by the time I get to the start-finish line and that’s pole position gone for me. No, there’s not too much to complain about.
“I think there were a couple of places where I wasn’t quite on a good enough limit and consistently losing a little bit too much lap time today and this weekend. So, some places and things I need to work on, but otherwise the laps were good, and I was still pretty happy.
Pressed on to reveal how much confidence he has going into this race, Norris said: “I would have loved to be on pole. I think that’s the thing that would have made me the happiest. But it’s been close all weekend. You just look at the results and I’ve been ahead.
“But I easily could have been behind by just losing half a tenth or a tenth here and there. So, it’s not like I’ve dominated it. I’ve just been ever so slightly ahead and it’s just switched the other way around for quali. But I still am confident for the race pace. We know that’s one of our strengths as a team.
“ But I also know my main competitor is the guy ahead of me. We’ll see tonight. Of course, we always put the plan together, but with the other side and with Oscar and everything.
“So, it’s always a little bit trickier to beat that one guy. But at the same time, it’s a long race. We’ll see what we can do,” concluded Norris.
Having overtaken Max Verstappen to take the win last year, Norris looks sceptical regarding today’s race as his team-mate has an identical car to him while the reigning champion drove a slower car last season.
“I mean, yeah — no offence to Max — he was in a much slower car last year. So that helps a lot. Oscar’s in a much quicker car this year and the hardest guy to normally overtake is your team-mate, especially when in a quali like today where we were split by one hundredth.
“ So yeah, I mean, it’s going to take some magic, some good strategy or incredible tyre saving or something. But it’s normally pretty difficult to overtake in the first place. It’s even harder to do that behind your team-mate. So, I’ll see what I can dream of tonight.”
