Lando Norris: Breakthrough Austria F1 pole “hopefully the beginning”

McLaren driver Lando Norris believes his stunning pole lap in the Austrian Grand Prix is the “beginning” of his mid-season Formula 1 turnaround.

Despite missing the first practice of the weekend on Friday to give track time to McLaren F1 junior Alex Dunne, Norris has been in incredible form at the Red Bull Ring, topping every single session held so far.

On Saturday, he struck his McLaren on pole position by over half a second with a time of 1m.03.971s, comfortably outpacing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri.

Although Pierre Gasly’s late spin coming out of the final corner prevented some of his rivals, including Piastri, from setting a final flying lap, the Briton appeared to have the edge in Q3.

“It was a good lap, that's for sure,” said Norris. I guess just a little bit by little bit [I improved].

“I feel like my Q3 [lap] 1 was good but I knew there were a few places where if I just got it right, I could get quite a bit more time and I did exactly that.

“So I did what I planned to do and when I plan to do something and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well. Yeah, very happy.

“It's a good day. It's been a good weekend for me so far. So hopefully we can keep it up”

Norris has generally struggled to match his teammate Piastri this season, with his retirement in Canada leaving him 22 points off the Australian in the championship battle.

But with the Austria qualifying showing he can comprehensively outperform Piastri, Norris is hoping this round can mark a major turning point in his title bid.

“It's a long season so I [will] savour this moment, especially because some of my tougher moments have been in quali,” he explained, referring to some of the errors that have left him on the back foot for Sunday races.

“So to put in a lap like today, to have the performance throughout the weekend like I had, was pleasing for myself.

“But I'm excited. It's a long race tomorrow. It's just a long season and I'm very happy with today, but I want to prove it to myself over and over again and hopefully, it's just the beginning of it.”