Lando Norris has attributed McLaren’s shock front row lock-out in Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix to its car being 20km/h quicker on the straights than its predecessor.
Norris entered this weekend billed as the man to beat amid a commanding showing in Zandvoort which saw him convert pole position into a crushing 22-second win.
McLaren did not prove to be the benchmark team at Monza until Norris managed to head the Q1 times, though, with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes displacing him in Q2.
But the Woking-based squad’s MCL38 car came alive come the all-important pole position shootout, as Norris produced a 1:19.327s to head team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Asked how pleased he was to claim his fifth pole in F1, Norris replied: “Very, because I think it’s probably been, like everyone’s seen, the closest build-up, FP1, FP2, FP3.
“I think we just looked as good as the others, nothing more, nothing less, honestly. So yeah, I just expected a tough qualifying, and it was, for sure.
“But I think for us to come away with a 1-2, to come away with another pole, was probably not quite what we were expecting, but in a good way, of course.
“So, yeah, a good qualifying, I wouldn’t say the cleanest, just difficult to put laps together around here, and when the margins are so small, you try and go for everything.
“But you can also pay a price, you know. So, risk-reward in a lot of corners.
“And the set-up changes and things we made into qualifying seemed to have made a good amount of progress, and we seemed very quick.”
Norris has denied that McLaren had sandbagged earlier in the weekend, citing that his McLaren car began to “come alive” with minor set-up tweaks and reduced fuel.
“I think we just continued to progress, not a lot, you know, like my first lap in quali was already a 19.8s, which was a great first lap out of the box,” he explained.
“It wasn’t like I went out and found big chunks, you know, it wasn’t like Zandvoort, where I went three, four tenths quicker, and that kind of evolution.
“But there’s a lot less corners around here, and it’s trickier to kind of put it together, I think, and just small things with the car.
“Like you don’t get to FP3 in quali and change the whole thing or turn it upside down.
“You’re nudging it in different directions, and you’re just trying to make a car which you’re comfortable to execute good laps on, and I feel like we made a bit of progress with that.
“But also maybe with fuel, when you bring it down, the car just seemed to come a little bit more alive, come qualifying, and definitely seemed to progress ahead of some of the others.”
Norris was unable to better his opening and final sectors on his last attempt, but an improved middle to the lap was enough to improve his time to extend his margin.
The Briton has divulged that a mistake at the revised Turn 1/2 placed him on the back foot and even had him concerned that he could have squandered pole position.
“It didn’t feel like a nailed lap; I think all of us as drivers, when we go out in quali, you want to put together a perfect lap, you want everything to flow,” he expressed.
“I tried pushing the braking a bit more for [Turn] One, and I actually got one so much better, I then smashed the inside kerb of two because I turned in too early.
“So I was about a tenth and a half down just after Turn One, so I was kind of like, it’s over already before it even starts, and I didn’t really expect to gain it.
“But then I nailed the second chicane and gained one and a half tenths back straight away, and then just made a couple hundredths of a gain in every corner from that point on.
“So it just didn’t feel like a nailed lap, it didn’t feel as good as my lap last weekend, but clearly still good enough for pole, which is a nice feeling.”
McLaren achieving the maximum result marks a stark contrast to 12 months ago when Norris came up ninth on the grid, seven tenths down on the pole position time.
Norris has dedicated McLaren’s drastic turnaround in fortunes at Monza to a more efficient package which is better prepped to tackle the Italian track’s long straights.
“Yeah, it’s a bit more comfortable,” Norris said regarding the team’s decision not to pursue a tow in Q3. “Some people will be closer, some people further away.
“Also, even in Q3, I had two cars ahead, Albon and the Haas, I think.
“So just avoiding yellow flags and things like that, not because I think they would have caused them, but some people are by a chance causing yellow flags than others.
“Just thinking of even those things to kind of have a big gap, just to give that little bit more time in case someone hocks up in one or there’s a yellow flag for some silly reason.
“So a little bit of that. We’re quick on our own, even when you compare us this year to last year, we’re like 20k[ph] or something quicker in the straights. So it’s a lot.
“Last year, we were pretty shocking in the straight, which came as a bit of a surprise.
“But it shows the difference of when you’re not prepared, so when you’re prepared for a race. Where we were last year, it’s where we are now.”
