Lando Norris claims McLaren needs ‘something extra’ to beat Max Verstappen after losing pole position at Austrian GP

Lando Norris qualified a staggering four tenths behind Max Verstappen at the Austrian GP qualifying.

Lando Norris claims McLaren needs ‘something extra’ to beat Max Verstappen after losing pole position at Austrian GP

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris (Via: Imago)

The F1 paddock rolled up to Austria with the hopes of a brewing title fight. A glimpse of it was witnessed in the Sprint race when Lando Norris tried to make a move on Max Verstappen. Despite the event not ending in the former’s favor, he had high expectations from qualifying for the main race. However, after being obliterated by his Dutch rival to pole, the Brit claimed it would be difficult for McLaren to beat Verstappen in the race.

Lando Norris found untapped performance in himself after his win in Miami. Subsequently, with McLaren catching up to the tail of Red Bull, the 24-year-old emerged as a strong candidate to take on the fight to the reigning champion. This was observed in Spain when Norris was dejected after claiming the runners-up spot in the race and showcased his desire to achieve more.

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After the Sprint race in Austria, Norris reckoned that Red Bull was only fractionally faster than the English team. However, the qualifying relayed an entirely different story.

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We are going to need something extra to beat the pace of Max and Red Bull, but I'm going to try my best.
Lando Norris said in the post-qualifying interview

The Englishman was 0.404 seconds behind Max Verstappen in the lap times. To put the time gap into perspective, the gap from second to seventh was less than four-tenths of a second. Understanding the reason behind the mammoth gap to the 26-year-old, Norris admitted that McLaren would need to pull out something extraordinary to beat the pair of Verstappen and Red Bull, but he would give his all to achieve this.

Lando Norris could be promoted to pole position

While Verstappen qualified a huge chunk ahead of Norris, the Brit could bag the pole position. It could happen through an interesting turn of events if fate does not favor his Dutch rival.

McLaren's Lando Norris (via IMAGO)
Lando Norris (via IMAGO)

Drivers had come to a gentleman’s agreement to slow down in the pitlane to build a gap for doing their out laps. However, Verstappen was noted for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pitlane exit.

Despite the agreement between the drivers, there was a specified time that each driver could take in exiting the pitlane, to not hamper others. Moreover, if the Dutchman is found guilty of the same the consequences could push him down the grid and gift the pole position to the McLaren driver.

The possibility of this happening seems unlikely as such instances are often done away with a reprimand by the FIA. However, FIA has been getting stricter regarding such incidents and any possibility cannot be ruled out.

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