The key to Lando Norris' "masterpiece" Madrid F1 pole

McLaren boss Andrea Stella described Lando Norris' pole-winning lap at the Spanish Grand Prix as a "masterpiece" after toppling Kimi Antonelli by 0.011s. 

Mercedes and Ferrari had been the pace-setters across the Madrid weekend from first practice to the end of Q2, with Max Verstappen the only driver to break the order with a degree of regularity. 

However, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton having taken provisional pole after the first laps in the final phase of qualifying, Norris put it all on the line and, despite a tardy final corner as his McLaren slid wide, set an unbeatable 1m31.824s.

"I think that's a masterpiece," Stella told Sky Sports. A masterpiece. 

"We had seen across the whole weekend that, had we put it all together, we were not far from the best cars. So we have worked our way step-by-step to try and put all the performance together. I think Lando did it only in the final run of Q3.

"And, if you want the news is that in the final corner, he made a mistake of three-tenths. So, he was on just an incredible lap. I think definitely one of the best of his life until the last corner."

With overtaking seen to be incredibly difficult in the junior categories, track position is crucial for the grand prix, especially as the few passes that have been made so far have all come using DRS. 

Speaking to the written media, Stella added: "I would say that definitely, this was one of the most impressive laps that I witnessed as somebody that has watched telemetry in 450 Grand Prix, because we were not, honestly, performing to the level of scoring a pole position. I think, at no stage during the weekend, we demonstrated that the car was performing at the level of being the best car. We were lacking quite significantly in the first sector, low speed and kerbing.

"At the same time, this issue is a consequence of pushing to the level that Lando managed to push. But, everyone will push the limits. The thing that makes the lap unique, when you look especially at the telemetry, is the precision, the braking, the speed you carry in entry, the striking of the kerb, the going on power. Everything is executed with a pretty unique level of precision.

"So, for me, that's, if anything, the main attribute that I would associate with this lap: just incredible precision in the meter-by-meter execution."

Norris' effort was all the more astonishing given that he missed the entirety of second practice with a gearbox problem. While he was able to focus on qualifying pace in the final practice session, he has little knowledge of how the car will cope over a long run, meaning he is relying heavily on data gathered by team-mate Oscar Piastri, who will start from seventh place. 

"Obviously, P2 was a bit of a loss of ground, because Lando lost pretty much the entire session," said Stella. 

"So, I think this makes his work in qualifying even more remarkable. And also, on Oscar, we were experiencing a little problem on the car. So, we didn't have great references. So, we kept learning, we kept putting this together, but I think Lando offered one of the most outstanding performances of his career and placed McLaren on the pole position at this first edition of the Madrid Grand Prix."