Lando Norris admitted mistakes cost him pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix – as championship rival Oscar Piastri secured top spot to deal a blow to the British driver’s bid of winning back-to-back races for the first time.
McLaren were in a class of one in qualifying for the ninth round of a campaign which looks increasingly set to come down to a battle between team-mates Norris and Piastri for the biggest prize in motor racing.
Norris ended a poor run over one lap to take pole in Monaco a week ago before going on to claim his second win of the campaign and reducing Piastri’s championship lead to just three points.
But Norris has never won consecutive races in Formula One, and his hopes of building on his Monte Carlo triumph were dealt a setback in Barcelona with Piastri taking an emphatic pole. Piastri’s advantage of 0.209 seconds is the biggest of the season so far.
Norris held a slender advantage of 0.017 sec after the first runs in Q3 and although he improved with his final attempt, Norris conceded his lap was scrappy, and it was Piastri in the other papaya car who soared to the top of the order.
“Oscar drove very well but the pace was easily there today,” said Norris. “Sometimes you don’t put the lap in. I know where I lost that time. I made a mistake at Turn 1 and on the exit of Turn 4.
“I was trying a little bit too much and I wasn’t tidy enough. Just one too many mistakes. I am still fine and happy with second. It is not the end of the world.”
Of course, Norris is right and he could yet land a win here on Sunday which would move him back to the summit of the title standings.
However, it is Piastri, who is proving the more consistent performer this season, with four victories to Norris’ two, and it is he who will hold the aces on the long run down to the first corner.
Quickest in both the second and third practice sessions prior to qualifying, the Australian said: “I always felt confident pole was on the cards so I am glad we pulled it off.”
McLaren have won six of the eight rounds so far, and their rivals might have hoped that a clampdown on flexible front wings – which some believe has contributed to the British team’s rise – would slow them down.
However, the rule tweak has done little to influence McLaren’s speed, with Max Verstappen and George Russell both 0.302 sec slower than Piastri.
Red Bull’s Verstappen and Mercedes’ Russell posted identical times but it is the former who will start one place better off in third by virtue of setting his lap first.
Lewis Hamilton called his car “undriveable” in practice on Friday. But he finished fifth here and out-qualified Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc for the first time since the second round in China – albeit half-a-second off Piastri’s pace.
Leclerc had to settle for seventh with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli splitting the Ferrari pair.
