Lando Norris shrugs off McLaren fire to grab Spanish Grand Prix pole

SPORTSAREENA.com2 weeks ago

0 5 4 minutes read

Lando Norris brushed apart the drama of his McLaren crew’s hospitality unit catching fire to produce “the best lap of my life” and deprive Max Verstappen of pole for the Spanish Grand Prix in qualifying on Saturday.

Sunday’s race will begin at 15:00 (SA time).

Lewis Hamilton will begin on the second row alongside his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Verstappen regarded positive to set off for Sunday’s tenth spherical of the season from the entrance of the grid.

‘Stressful day’ – Lando Norris

But within the final throw of the top-10 shoot-out Norris denied the Red Bull ace by a mere two hundredths of a second.

“Today was the perfect lap,” mentioned Norris after solely his second profession pole.

“My best lap by a long way, I knew I had to do something perfect, it was probably my best lap ever.”

Norris produced his 1:11.383 of magic after a “stressful” day when the McLaren hospitality unit caught fire earlier than third observe.

McLaren crew boss Zak Brown instructed Sky Sports one employees member had to go to hospital however had been discharged, including: “Happy to report everyone is fine”.

“I lost my shoes. It’s all been a bit messy,” mentioned Norris.

“I like to listen to my music loud beforehand, but didn’t have that this time. But it’s not the end of the world. I’m not going to complain about it.”

Turning again to a classic qualifying session, Norris, whose solely different pole got here in Russia in 2021, mirrored: “It’s been some time since Sochi!

“Max seemed a bit stronger today, but we made some changes,” added the Briton who gained his maiden Grand Prix in May in Miami.

“I’m super happy to be on pole, it’s going to be tough but we’re here to win!”

Verstappen, concentrating on a fourth straight world title, leads the championship by 56 factors from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who begins Sunday’s race in fifth, with Norris seven factors again in third.

“I think the whole of qualifying was better than practice for me,” mentioned Verstappen, who gained his maiden Grand Prix in Barcelona in 2016 and is on a hat-trick after wins in Catalonia in 2022 and 2023.

“It all clicked much better. The other teams are catching up, we need to bring more performance to the car.”

Ferrari-bound Hamilton was pleased to be in direction of the entrance of the grid as he out-qualified his team-mate Russell for less than the second time this yr.

“It’s good to be back up here, great to see we are progressing,” he mentioned.

“We are slowly climbing nearer to the fellows in entrance, it’s actually on a knife edge.

“I’m really happy to be in P3 with that long straight to turn one.”

Joining Leclerc on the third row can be his Ferrari team-mate and residential favorite Carlos Sainz.

Next got here the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who has a three-place grid penalty from Canada, Esteban Ocon within the different Alpine and Oscar Piastri within the second McLaren.

Charles Leclerc reprimand

After solely a tenth of a second had lined the highest 4 in ultimate observe earlier the stage was set for an intriguing pole battle.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at McLaren’s hospitality unit. Image: MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP

Complicating issues was a sizeable drop in temperature, with morning sunshine giving approach to heavy cloud cowl with the wind selecting up.

The motion on monitor although was something however cool, as drivers scrambled to eke out each final ounce of efficiency for a Grand Prix gained from pole in 24 of 33 races run on the circuit.

After clipping the McLaren of Lando Norris on the finish of ultimate observe Leclerc tuned up for qualifying with a visit to the FIA’s headmaster’s research because the race stewards investigated the incident.

Leclerc was arguably lucky to escape with solely a reprimand somewhat than a grid penalty, introduced simply earlier than qualifying bought underneath approach.

Hamilton grabbed the honours within the first qualifying run, leaping from 14th to first, with Verstappen main the Mercedes duo after the second session.

Verstappen got here alive when it counted most – after a quietish time within the three observe classes he led Q3 after the primary flurry of laps.

All the drivers pitted to put together for one final try at depriving the Red Bull ace from Sunday’s pole, with Norris nailing it to finish a attempting day on a excessive.

This is the tenth spherical of the 24-race season and the primary of a triple header with Austria and Silverstone developing over the following two weekends.