Lando Norris jokes he has ‘biggest balls’ after snatching Zandvoort F1 pole

Lando Norris joked he has “the biggest balls” in Formula 1 after beating the Mercedes duo to pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix. 

The reigning world champion pipped George Russell to pole by 0.102 seconds during a frantic end to a tight qualifying at Zandvoort as a late rain shower hit during the final runs of Q3. 

It marked the second straight pole Norris has claimed this season after he topped qualifying last time out at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Now, the Briton is seeking his second consecutive victory. 

Norris suggested the late spots of rain might have helped improve lap times by cooling the tyres. 

“I don't know how much the rain affected things. Certainly the lap time was a bit better than I expected, and honestly, it maybe just cooled the track a little bit and actually the tyres performed a bit better through the lap,” he explained. 

“I wouldn't say it affected anything in a bad way. Only my Turn 1 was pretty shocking. It was pretty much my worst Turn 1 of the weekend. Otherwise it wasn't a lap that felt mega. 

“It was just one where I just had to commit to everything because I knew how close it was going to be. We saw how close it was after Q3 run one. It was one where I just kind of committed a lot more and almost made more mistakes, but because I committed a lot more through some of these mistakes, I seemed to gain more than I seemed to lose at times. 

“It’s always hard to know because I don't know my deltas, so I don't know where I went quicker or slower. But it was a lap where I just thought, ‘I have nothing to lose’ and it paid off. Those are also nice laps to have.” 

After finishing third in Saturday’s sprint race, Norris stated McLaren’s low-speed weakness meant it was “nowhere near good enough”. 

Norris insisted very little changed come qualifying and made a lighthearted reference to his high-speed performance. 

“We've not changed those things. Our car is certainly the best in high speed, no doubt. Or I have the biggest balls, I don't know,” Norris said with a smile. 

“But it's very, very strong there and those low speed we just really still struggle too much to be confident about everything. We definitely made maybe a little bit of progress, but it's still going to be the trickier side of things tomorrow.”

Norris added: “Certainly the car didn't feel that much better in the places we were struggling. Our biggest losses were still the same places, the same corners as it was this morning. 

“It’s just new tyres, low fuel. It just seemed to mask quite a few of our issues, and that was probably still the case today, and I just drove well. I just put a lot of things together. 

"I got more out of my lap than I did yesterday. Still wasn't a perfect lap, but I'm driving well. Like I said last weekend, when the car can be in a place where I have a little bit of confidence and I can drive to the level I can drive at then we can be on pole.”