Peter Windsor points out ‘two significant’ things with Lando Norris after Zandvoort qualifying

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Lando Norris qualified on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix with a lap three-tenths ahead of championship rival Max Verstappen.

It was the fourth pole position in the Briton’s career, three of which came this season, and also put him nearly half a second ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris led the final part of qualifying throughout, gaining time largely through the first and final sectors of the Zandvoort circuit. Martin Brundle highlighted this advantage through the final sector while commentating on Norris’ lap, with the Briton’s final attempt being four-tenths faster than his provisional pole lap.

Despite setting a personal best lap on his final attempt, Piastri could not unseat his teammate and had to settle with a second-row start behind Max Verstappen.

The gap between the two McLaren drivers is significant considering both have the same specification car. Peter Windsor believes there were two key takeaways from the qualifying session when discussing the results on his YouTube channel.

Peter Windsor highlights ‘two significant things’ from Dutch GP qualifying

Norris currently leads Piastri 11 to three in the qualifying head-to-head, but the latter has usually been within touching distance of his teammate.

In Hungary, the pair were separated by 0.022s while it was another 0.046s at the last race in Belgium.

Windsor believes this was a significant moment for Piastri given the sizeable gap to Norris, while Verstappen managed to out-qualify him in an an inferior Red Bull.

“There have been moments when Oscar has looked like the next big superstar of F1. But here, if he is the next Ayrton Senna, please advise. Because look at what Lando has been doing to him at Zandvoort,” said Windsor.

“I think there were two really significant things from qualifying. One is that Lando out-qualified Piastri to that extent and secondly, it’s that Max made it onto the second row ahead of Piastri.”

Lando Norris hopeful for a decent start at Zandvoort

The run down from the start on the grid to the banked Tarzan corner is 215 meters, one of the shortest on the F1 calendar.

Norris will be hopeful that he can get a better start than previous races from pole, having lost out to Verstappen in Spain and Piastri in Hungary this year.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Dutch Grand Prix including Prost and Piquet’s drama

In Hungary, McLaren blamed Norris’ poor start on a software ‘glitch’ while his poor getaway at the Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona was largely down to driver error.

Norris has been vocal about his errors this season and is aware that he must be more consistent if he wants to mount a credible title challenge to Verstappen, who is currently 78 points ahead in the Drivers’ Championship.