Opportunity knocks once again for Lando Norris, who starts the Italian Grand Prix from pole position, leading the McLaren double, with Max Verstappen in seventh place.
In his office on the first floor of the team’s headquarters, Norris’ mentor Zak Brown can allow himself to smile. He had known the British driver since he was “68cm tall and weighed 50kg in his car”. He was world karting champion at the time.
Norris, now 24, has the chance to battle Verstappen for motorsport’s top honour. He is 70 points behind the Dutchman and has 258 points from nine Grand Prix weekends.
A qualifying performance like this is a huge help in the effort, but its full potential will only be realised if Norris leads at the end of the opening lap for the first time in his five pole positions.
“He’s been a bit too polite,” Brown told Mail Sport. “He needs to stick his elbows out a bit more.”
Lando Norris starts the Italian Grand Prix from pole position after a brilliant performance in qualifying
Team-mate Oscar Piastri completes the front row for an all-McLaren one-two with Mercedes’ George Russell securing P3 ahead of Charles Leclerc in the first of the two Ferraris.
Zac Brown has revealed what Lando Norris needs to do to win the F1 title
Has Brown offered this fatherly advice to Norris in person? “I have, but he knows it anyway,” says the American. “At Spa a couple of races ago, he realised he had left too much space in the first corner. When he watched it back on video, he saw he had left too much space.
“But his starts aren’t as important as some say. It’s not like he goes out on track and thinks: ‘Oh my God, it’s the start’. It’s more the first laps that are important than the starts.”
At least Norris will be able to go for it without Verstappen on his tail. It is the defending champion who is having a headache. He was almost seven-tenths behind Norris and complained that his Red Bull was “shocking” and “had no grip”.
He cursed in the cockpit but then sounded upbeat, as if he had resigned himself to the idea that his defence is vulnerable to attack. Red Bull have no answers at the moment.
Norris’s mood this weekend has been very good and Brown detects a growing confidence in his driving. He cites the final chapter of the crushing 23-second win at Zandvoort last Sunday (Norris’ second career win, after his first at Miami in May) as proof of that.
“Look at his fastest lap and how he achieved it,” McLaren team principal Brown urged. “With a few laps to go he asked us what was going on with the fastest lap.
‘Andrea (Stella, the team principal) said to him: “Lewis (Hamilton), new soft tyres”, which meant: “Don’t try it”. The next lap we saw green (on the screens, showing a personal best time). I was looking at it. And then, the next lap, more green. Andrea turned to me and said: “Here we go”.
“To have that confidence in himself and the car in a high-risk situation and not worry about throwing it away is a level of self-confidence I’ve not seen from him before. I like the way he did it. Calm, cool, collected, collected, as if to say, ‘And there you have it!'”
Verstappen was almost seven-tenths behind Norris during a difficult qualifying session
“When you get a win as important as that, you’re in the right environment. You think you can beat these guys in a serious way.
‘I remember when I won my first karting race and then my second. That takes a bit of pressure off me. I don’t think anymore: ‘Can I do it? Is that guy better than me?’ I have more expectations of myself.’
McLaren is the car to beat, and has been for some weeks now. Credit Brown, Stella and their pundits for turning the team’s fortunes around after a decade and a half without a win. Progress has taken them to within 30 points of Red Bull and they should catch up to win their first constructors’ title since 1998.
As for the drivers’ crown? “Lando is without a doubt a world champion,” Brown says without hesitation. “He can compete with Max, with anyone.”
McLaren boss Brown says he detects growing confidence in Norris’ driving
McLaren look to be the team to beat since returning from the summer break.
“But can we claw back the 70-point lead that Max built up brilliantly early on? We’re going to need a few things to go our way. Max has the car, but we need three retirements on his side and none on ours.”
Or perhaps such drastic measures are not necessary, since between Lando and Max in the classification were the two Mercedes (George Russell third and Lewis Hamilton sixth) and the two Ferraris (Charles Leclerc fourth and Carlos Sainz fifth).
“If we started the championship now or if the title was awarded in the second half of the season, Lando would win it. As for the full season… we are keeping our feet on the ground.”