Lando Norris was in high spirits after a fine pole position was claimed on Saturday at Zandvoort and claimed McLaren is reaping the rewards of a “patient” upgrade approach at the Dutch Grand Prix.
McLaren brought an upgrade package to Zandvoort this weekend, its most significant for several months.
In the interim period between now and Norris’ maiden win at Miami, the McLaren driver has been a consistent threat for wins but has just missed out on securing his second victory.
Still, the McLaren driver argued the package brought to Zandvoort was the first significant set of performance parts added to the MCL38 since his maiden F1 win.
“Whenever you want to bring upgrades to a car, I think especially for us, we’ve been quite patient,” Norris told select media including Motorsport Week after qualifying.
“We haven’t brought any real performance-enhancing upgrades since Miami.
“We brought always little bits and there’s always little things that we’ve added, but this is our first, let’s say, upgrade.
“We took our time because we wanted to make sure it worked well and it worked as soon as we put it on the car and it does what it wants.
“So far, it’s been exactly that way, so credit to the team for playing a big part in this too.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen launched himself into provisional pole with his final run in the Q3 top-10 shootout, but the Dutchman’s effort was short-lived atop the leaderboard.
Norris meanwhile, dancing through Zandvoort’s banked corners in the hotly-tipped McLaren package, stormed into pole with a three-and-a-half-tenth margin over the rest of the field.
“I felt good all the way through qualifying, honestly,” he said.
“The car’s been strong all weekend. We felt comfortable, we felt strong. And especially come today in qualifying, since the first lap we did, I felt like I was in a good rhythm.
“It’s not easy around here, because it’s not an easy track, first of all, but it’s also even more difficult with the wind and the conditions and stuff, so just doing laps which are not mistake-free, and not kind of locking up, not doing anything which would make me lose a little bit of confidence.
“And I just kept chipping away and then improving every lap.”
With 10 podiums in a row for McLaren coming into the Dutch GP, Norris looks set to extend that stat.
As a result of a dialled-in upgrade package and impressive pole position, perhaps Norris can also end his months-long wait to claim his second Formula 1 win.
“I’m not expecting anything easy for sure,” Norris said.
“Tomorrow, it’s going to look the most calm from a weather and a wind point of view, which is always a nicer thing to look forward to.
“I think we’re in a good way, so hopefully we can continue what we had today.”
