A dominant Lando Norris delivered the perfect response to his Montreal horror show by securing an emphatic pole position for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Norris’ world championship bid was dealt a major setback a fortnight ago when he ran into the back of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
But the British driver has been in excellent form at the Red Bull Ring, topping all of the practice sessions he has competed in, before landing the 12th pole of his career.
Norris’ margin over second-placed Charles Leclerc was a huge 0.521 seconds – the biggest of the year so far at the shortest track on the calendar.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points in the title standings, could manage only third, 0.583 secs behind his team-mate with Lewis Hamilton fourth. Piastri was unable to complete his final lap in Q3 after Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spun ahead of him.
After landing his first win of the season last time out in Canada, George Russell ended up in fifth, but Max Verstappen could manage only seventh after he complained that his Red Bull was “undriveable”.
Norris admitted he made a fool of himself when he collided with Piastri in Montreal, and was warned of “tough conversations” by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
However, the 25-year-old Bristolian has been in a class of one so far here, and he will start the 11th round of this 24-race season as the favourite to claim a win which could serve as a springboard to get his title charge back on track a week out from his home event at Silverstone.
Norris’ first lap in Q3 placed him two tenths faster than anyone else, and he then pulled out more than half-a-second with his next lap.
“It was a good lap, that’s for sure,” said Norris.
“I feel like my first lap in Q3 was good but I knew I could get more time and I did exactly that. I did what I planned to do and when I do that and it goes right it is usually very good.
“Some of my tough moments have been in qualifying, so to have a performance like that is exciting. I am very happy with today but I want to prove it to myself over and over again and I hope this is just the beginning.”
Verstappen is 43 points off the championship pace and he faces the prospect of losing further ground following a disappointing qualifying session at a venue he has so often ruled.
Verstappen has won five times in the Styrian mountains, and taken the last four pole positions here, but he has looked out of sorts in his unruly Red Bull machine.
“The car is completely undriveable,” he said over the radio after finishing nearly a second behind Norris. “It is even worse than before. I don’t even know what to say.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda qualified only 18th.
Ollie Bearman out-qualified Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon for the fourth time of his rookie campaign, progressing to Q2 and finishing 15th.
One of the grid’s other rookies, Gabriel Bortoleto, impressed to haul his Sauber into Q3 for the first occasion in his career. He will start eighth on Sunday.
