Lando Norris kept a cool head even in the rain chaos in Las Vegas on the way to his first world title. The Briton afterwards illustrated how difficult qualifying was on the RTL microphone.
Lando Norris secured pole position in the Formula 1 race – under extreme conditions, as the McLaren star emphasized afterwards on the RTL microphone. How difficult were the circumstances for the pilots? “Everyone here in the paddock except the racing drivers would have crashed,” said the championship leader: “If I sent every single person here in the paddock on a single lap, no one – except the racing drivers – would come back to the pit lane.”
The low temperatures and the rain at the start of the session caused problems for the drivers. Little grip resulted in slippery conditions, Williams driver Alexander Albon flew into the barrier in Q1.
“It’s hard to describe how difficult it was out there today,” said Norris: “Especially in Q1 and Q2. But it’s our job to race under whatever conditions. It wasn’t too wet at all, but it was just too slippery.” He also had to “push himself a little bit out of his own comfort zone”. “One thing is clear: it’s not a round that you can enjoy.” Carlos Sainz, the big surprise of the hunt for times, made a similar statement. Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko expressed his “admiration” for the drivers.
Ultimately, qualifying went perfectly for Lando Norris: he was able to set his best time on the last lap on the open road, unlike Max Verstappen, who was 0.323 seconds slower in the Red Bull. Meanwhile, his teammate Oscar Piastri was unlucky because one of the many yellow flags prevented him from doing a faster lap and he only finished fifth.
Norris now “on his A-game”
In Las Vegas, Lando Norris is now targeting his eighth win of the season. Will he succeed on Sunday (from 4:30 a.m. live on RTL), he would take a big step towards the world title.
Video: Qualifying analysis: “It’s fun”
“Lando did an incredible job, even though he made a small mistake at the end. I think he was surprised that he was on pole,” praised his team boss Zak Brown in an interview with “Sky”. His one theory as to why things are going so well for his driver at the moment: “He’s very relaxed. I think maybe not leading the championship for a while and being number two instead helped him, being the hunter instead of the hunted, and he’s just very focused.”
Norris is now “on his A-game,” said the McLaren boss: “Hopefully we can bring Oscar further forward tomorrow and land on the podium with both cars.”