What Lando Norris has changed this season to improve his performances in qualifying

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Lando Norris has revealed that he has been working hard to eradicate mistakes in his qualifying performances, after several problems in the second half of last season.

The McLaren driver missed out on pole in Qatar on two occasions while he was knocked out in Q1 in Mexico, and made further mistakes at Abu Dhabi.

Things have improved this year with his average qualifying position being 4th on the grid, while also achieving a pole at the recent Spanish Grand Prix.

Much of that was down to his improvements in the off-season, with Norris citing his different approach to driving the car in a recent episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Lando Norris points out area he’s worked on in qualifying

Norris has finished in the top five in qualifying in nine out of the last 11 races of the season, making it his best season so far for average qualifying positions.

Much of that is down to him ironing out the unforced errors he often made last year and focusing more on maximising the potential of his car.

“A lot of talks, a lot of trying things, a lot of trying to figure out why, how, driving in different ways,” said Norris.

“Instead of driving at 101% to make a car that probably wasn’t quick enough to be on pole and being close to it, and trying to make it be on pole is just trying to, just kind of stepping back and just going, this is what I got.”

Lando Norris unlocks ‘ability’ breakthrough

When he earned pole for the Spanish GP, Norris cited a breakthrough in his ability to ‘unlock something more’ in qualifying sessions without hitting a performance ceiling.

He currently leads teammate Oscar Piastri 7-2 in qualifying performances, while Piastri has yet to score a pole for a Grand Prix in his career.

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Chandhok previously hailed Norris for delivering a ‘sensational lap’ after finding nearly half a second between Q2 and Q3 in Barcelona, while Damon Hill felt he got lucky with his pole attempt due to a tow he received at the start from Esteban Ocon.

Starting from pole will be key to Norris securing early track position over Verstappen if their battle continues into the season. If he can continue to nail qualifying laps, it will enable the McLaren driver to manage the pace up front and dictate strategy.