Peter Windsor highlights what Lando Norris did that was ‘real key’ to ‘best lap of career’

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Lando Norris secured what he described as the “best lap of my career” after qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver was helped by the fact that George Russell crashed late into Q3, which prevented any driver from being able to improve their second laps.

Norris was 0.031s quicker than Max Verstappen after their first runs, but the Red Bull driver started his final lap much later and subsequently had to abort it due to Russell’s crash.

It was an important pole for Norris who had suffered a points loss to Verstappen earlier in the day during the Sprint race after the McLaren driver made a mistake on the final lap and dropped to third while the Red Bull driver won.

Peter Windsor has highlighted one key area in Norris’ lap that made it brilliant by comparing him to his teammate Oscar Piastri, who qualified in fifth when speaking on his YouTube channel.

Peter Windsor highlights Lando Norris apex speed compared to Oscar Piastri

Piastri was sixth-tenths off Norris and will start behind both Ferrari’s, who are looking threatening in the race with their long-run performance.

Although Norris made a mistake on his first run at Turn 19, Windsor has highlighted how the Briton managed to maintain the momentum through the corner compared to Piastri.

“The real key to it was Lando went 281kph (174mph) down in 7th gear, down to 218kph (135mph) entry speed. That was the lowest entry speed he had going into that corner in sixth gear.

“By contrast, Oscar Piastri came out of that 7th gear corner slightly quicker at 284kph (177mph) but either didn’t think about using 6th or made a mistake, and by going down to 5th gear he reduced his speed to 206kph (128mph). So when Oscar is doing 206, Lando is doing 218 into that final corner.”

Lando Norris has better car than Oscar Piastri at US Grand Prix

McLaren heads into the US GP leading their rivals Red Bull by 41 points with six races left to go, as they attempt to win their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998.

The British-based team has been developing their car throughout the 2024 season and found more performance gains, particularly midway through the season.

READ MORE: Zak Brown pinpoints what ‘doesn’t quite stack up’ in Red Bull’s front bib statement

Their final upgrade package for the season was brought to the US GP weekend, which should help them continue their push in the Constructors’ battle.

Ted Kravitz has explained how only Norris has the fully upgraded McLaren this weekend, with Piastri missing one component out of the seven updates to the car.