Why Lando Norris’s pole in Austria is the most significant moment since Australia

There was no screaming or shouting. And yes, it was only qualifying, but Lando Norris’ performance on Saturday around the Red Bull Ring felt like a significant moment in the McLaren driver’s season.

The manner in which Norris took pole, finishing 0.521s ahead of Charles Leclerc, was mighty impressive. He’d already taken provisional pole and then went even quicker with a second flying lap.

“Nice to see the old me back every now and again,” he said over the team radio before adding, “that was pretty damn beautiful”.

There is a caveat, as Pierre Gasly’s spin at the final corner which drew the yellow flags prevented Max Verstappen and championship leader Oscar Piastri from trying to better the Brit’s lap time.

Nonetheless, that should not detract from Norris’ performance, which was exemplary – the timing of this result was crucial, arguably the most significant since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Norris turned up in Melbourne and delivered pole, which he then converted into a win to set an early benchmark in the title race. Over the winter, he had spoken about being in the hunt for the championship and taking the fight to Verstappen and Piastri. He backed up that fighting talk with a dominant performance.

However, since that race in Melbourne, the tide has turned in the opposite direction allowing Piastri to open up a sizeable lead in the championship thanks to his five victories.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Talk of a Norris collapse was rife, although his pole and win in Monaco stemmed the negativity, it cannot be seen as a line in the sand. Plus, any positivity from that win was quickly dissolved with a shocking weekend in Montreal, where McLaren was off the pace.

And then came the moment in the race that saw Norris admit to making a “fool” of himself by attempting to overtake Piastri in what was ultimately what he called a “stupid” move as he crashed into his team-mate. Norris left Canada a dejected figure. It seemed his challenge was over.

In the week break after Canada, McLaren’s investigation into what went wrong in that rash manoeuvre a couple of laps from the end was thorough. Norris too had done some much-needed soul searching and had pressed the reset button.

It showed in Austria as he stopped overthinking and was much calmer. However, as he admits, he now needs to be that way and deliver on a consistent basis.

He said: “On the whole it was easily my best qualifying of the year from a delivery point of view. I did I still made a couple of mistakes here and there, but none that cost me and of course putting it in when it counts in Q3 – that was easily the best lap I’ve done for this whole season. Probably even better than Monaco. Not as an exciting lap as Monaco, but definitely a better-put-together lap than I did there.

“But that was the most confident and comfortable I’ve been in terms of getting time out of the car and it showed today that, when I have those feelings, I can have a day like today. That’s reassuring for myself, which is a very, very nice feeling but it’s all about consistency. This is one weekend, but I got to do it for another what 14.”

Norris is halfway there, but if he can convert pole into a victory on Sunday in Spielberg, then he knows it would pull him into the title race again and confirm that he is indeed ‘back’.

Photos from Austrian GP – Practice and Qualifying