ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Lando Norris has never converted pole position into a victory in Formula One, but the McLaren driver is confident about changing that at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris took an emphatic pole position at Zandvoort, beating home favourite Max Verstappen by 0.346s.
The Englishman has started five F1 races from pole — three times at a grand prix, twice in a sprint race — but has not been in the lead at the end of the first lap on any of those occasions.
Norris agrees it has been a weakness but believes the narrative that he’s a bad starter has been overblown.
“It’s obvious. I know my starts have not been my forte,” Norris said after qualifying.
“They’ve not been bad, honestly. I’ve still been up there with being one of the best average starters, I’ve just missed out at a couple of races. It’s maybe looked worse than it’s been over the course of a season but there’s a couple of times it’s not been where they need to be, it’s been a couple of times when I’ve been on the front row.
“It’s not been for any certain reason, it’s been different things each time. But I feel confident I’ve put in a lot of work to make my starts a bit better and tomorrow’s a new day.”
Despite it becoming a talking point, Norris said he is not approaching Sunday’s start any differently as a result.
“Honestly, stats … stats to me don’t mean a lot. You kind of get respect with stats and you lose respect maybe with certain stats. Just numbers on a screen honestly don’t mean a lot from that perspective to me. Of course I care, but they don’t mean a lot, they don’t impact me.
“I’ve started towards the front a lot of times and I know my stats aren’t the best for that, more often than not I’ve gone backwards rather than holding positions but that’s just what I’ve done so far and I’ve worked hard and am working hard to try and change that.
“But it’s not something that affects me, I’m not going to try and go out tomorrow to suddenly prove people wrong or something. I’m just going to crack on and do what I’m going to do. People can write what they want, they can have their own opinions. A lot of these things are true and are facts to people but it’s more just use them to my advantage and improve on my weaknesses, simple as that.”
Norris starts ahead of Verstappen, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in third and Mercedes driver George Russell in fourth.
F1’s recent races have featured multiple teams in the mix for wins and Norris hinted that will be the case again this time around.
“There’s always some unknowns. I think we’re in a pretty reasonable place. Our long-run pace was pretty strong the other day. But Max, Oscar, both the Mercs, especially George in the position he is, are quick and are going to be challenging.
“So I’m not expecting it to be easy for sure. Tomorrow’s meant to look the most calm from a weather and wind point of view, which is always a nicer thing to look forward to. I think we’re in a good way, so hopefully we can continue what we had today into tomorrow.”