McLaren driver Lando Norris was delighted to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix at the climax of today's qualifying session at Zandvoort from local hero Max Verstappen.
Norris set a time of 1:09.673s at the end of Q3, putting him 0.356s ahead of Verstappen who has been on pole here for the last three occasions since the event returned to the F1 calendar in 2021.
It's Norris' fourth career pole, having claimed his first in Russia in 2021. The others have all been this season, with the Briton taking the top spot in Spain and Hungary although he didn't go on to win on either occasion.
Norris has been plagued by poor starts and struggled on the opening lap of races, and will be hoping that the summer holidays has given him the much-needed 'reset' he spoke of before the break.
“An amazing day," he beamed when interviewed in parc ferme after the end of qualifying. "It’s nice to be back and start with a pole. It was a nice lap, honestly.
“The qualifying was always pretty smooth," he continued. "I put in some good laps, especially the one at the end, which is always the most important. A great job by the team and I’m happy with today.”
This weekend has seen McLaren introduce its first major performance upgrade since Miami, where took his maiden F1 victory. The tough weather conditions with rain and high winds hasn't made it easy for the team.
“Everyone’s complaining because it’s tricky, it’s not easy out there," Norris acknowledged. "Every lap you have to kind of know what to expect, know how much more you can push, where the limits are.
"But that’s our job at the end of the day," he said. “It’s not easy but I felt comfortable out there, the car was feeling amazing.
"We’ve got some upgrades on the car for the first time in a while and everything’s working very well, so a big thanks to the team too," he added.
Asked if his record of never managing to convert a pole to a race win to date, Norris brushed aside questions about whether he was worried the same might happen again tomorrow.
“I don’t know why you’re saying that! I’m excited for tomorrow," he said. "“I’m sure it’s going to be tough."
Starting alongside him on the second row, Verstappen will certainly attempt to wrest the lead from Norris into the first corner. And behind the pair, Oscar Piastri and George Russell are ready to pounce too.
"Max has been quick all weekend," Norris said. "I know we got him today, but he’s still second and he’s going to be putting up a good fight, specially at his home race. I’m looking forward to it.”
As for Piastri, he felt that he should have done a better job of his Q3 run and made it a McLaren 1-2 lock-out on the starting grid for Sunday's race.
“I just didn’t do a good enough job, really,” he said. “I think the first half of the lap was pretty solid, then the second half just wasn’t quite what I needed.
"It’s a little bit disappointing to not be a bit higher up, but we’ve still got a good race car underneath us, we can get some really good points and hopefully some trophies tomorrow.
“The car’s been very quick this weekend," Piastri insisted. "[A win] is definitely not out of the question. The pace looked good in the long run, and we’ve been pretty quick the last few weekends.
"We can have a good day tomorrow, get a good start and try and make up a couple of spots," he offered. "We’ll give it a crack. There's some good things on offer tomorrow.”
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