BARCELONA: Lando Norris hailed a perfect lap to put McLaren on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday and deny Red Bull’s triple Formula One world champion Max Verstappen the top slot.

Verstappen had taken provisional pole with a time that looked hard to beat, and went faster with his final effort, but Norris took it to another level to end the session 0.020 quicker than his Dutch rival.

The pole was only the second of the Briton’s Formula One career, the last coming at the Russian Grand Prix in 2021.

“It was pretty much a perfect lap. You know when you are on a good lap and you are getting excited,” Norris said after setting a time of one minute 11.383 seconds. “It has been close all weekend but really it was about a perfect lap and that is what I did today.”

Championship leader Verstappen had set the standard with a lap of 1:11.673 as his first effort and improved the time on his second run to an impressive 1:11.403.

Verstappen, targeting a fourth straight world title, leads the championship by 56 points from Charles Leclerc, who starts Sunday’s race in fifth, with Norris seven points back in third.

“I think the whole of qualifying was better than practice for me,” said Verstappen, who won his maiden Grand Prix in Barcelona in 2016 and is on a hat-trick after wins in Catalonia in 2022 and 2023. “It all clicked much better. The other teams are catching up, we need to bring more performance to the car.”

Norris was the fourth different driver on pole in the last four races, another sign of the battle between the top teams getting ever closer and Red Bull’s dominance being steadily eroded.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was third fastest and team mate George Russell fourth.

Joining Leclerc on the third row will be his Ferrari team-mate and home favourite Carlos Sainz.

Next came the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who has a three-place grid penalty from Canada, Esteban Ocon in the other Alpine and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2024