Lando Norris secured a stunning pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by an impressive margin of 0.356 seconds. While this already places Norris in a strong position for Sunday’s race, McLaren CEO, Zak Brown has further unsettled Red Bull by revealing that his team is more than capable of taking the win.
In a statement to Sky Sports F1 after the qualifying session, Brown confidently shared that McLaren has the race pace to win the race provided they follow through with a decent strategy.
“Our race pace has been good, we just need a good, clean start and some good strategy,” Brown said.
IT’S A STUNNING POLE FOR LANDO NORRIS AT THE DUTCH GP!!
2. Verstappen +0.356s
3. Piastri pic.twitter.com/nxqm9hXjxw— Autosport (@autosport) August 24, 2024
He also mentioned that it could be a “straightforward” win for Norris if other factors like changing weather conditions and the Safety Car did not affect the race. If so, Brown feels all teams “will be on a one-stop strategy.”
The 0.356-second gap between Norris and Verstappen is significant relative to the close margins this season. It also serves as a huge confidence boost for the British driver, who has not won since his maiden win in Miami. However, Norris is no stranger to starting from pole position, and it hasn’t always gone smoothly for him in the past.
Norris will need a perfect getaway from the line to secure his second F1 win
This is the third time Norris has claimed pole for the Grand Prix in the 2024 season, with previous poles coming in Spain and Hungary. Unfortunately, he couldn’t convert either of those into wins.
In Spain, George Russell and Verstappen overtook him at the start. Meanwhile, in Hungary, his teammate Oscar Piastri passed him at Turn 1. Both Verstappen and Piastri then went to win the races that Norris should have ideally won.
Norris is aware of his past mistakes and is determined not to repeat them. He recently reflected on his challenges by saying, “I’ve been the closest to Max consistently, but I have not been close enough… He’s still managed to pull away in the championship over the last few races and it’s clear that I’ve had to improve.”
The Briton said that he was focused on analyzing his weaknesses during the summer break and believes he is better prepared to minimize mistakes.
