What a title fight Formula One would have on its hands if McLaren could make the final steps with their car. This was demonstrated to dramatic effect on Saturday as Lando Norris hurled his ride around Zandvoort to claim pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix. It was a prize secured against the odds and his own expectations, hours after he had bemoaned being in no position to fulfil his hopes of mounting a successful title defence.
The McLaren car is immensely quick through the fast corners, perhaps the class of the field, but is haemorrhaging time through the slow stuff, the package not quite complete, or suboptimal as Ron Dennis would have had it. Yet Norris managed to eke out its very best across the circuit to see off the Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli into second and third place. The season’s dominant car was subdued by Norris in qualifying for the second race in succession, after he took pole in Hungary.
