McLaren cement themselves as fastest team with Norris Pole Position
Lando Norris takes a dominant Pole Position in Zandvoort, over three-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen. Norris validates the first indications of McLaren’s upgrades on Friday, with the MCL38 taking a clear step forward. McLaren are now objectively the fastest team as they enter the next phase of their development.
After Friday Practice, Mercedes were regarded as the closest challengers to McLaren this weekend. The W15 showed some promising pace on the first day of running, especially in the long runs.
However, similarly to the first races of the year, Mercedes took a step backwards in qualifying.
After making set-up changes overnight, the Silver Arrows failed to keep their early performance – especially as track conditions changed.
This left McLaren as the clear fastest team in qualifying, which Lando Norris capitalised on. Oscar Piastri made a series of mistakes in his final Q3 run, costing the papaya team from locking out the front row.
In this sense, Norris might be slightly frustrated to see Max Verstappen alongside him for tomorrow’s race. The Dutchman executed a very strong lap to put himself at the front.
The extent of McLaren’s advantage
Despite this, it is clear that Red Bull lacks the performance to compete with McLaren on pure pace. A three-tenth deficit at such a short circuit is very significant, particularly as Zak Brown’s team adjusts to a very new package.
These were the average lap times from Friday’s Race Pace Simulations on medium tyres:
- Norris – 1:15.567
- Piastri – 1:15.826
- Hamilton – 1:16.040
- Verstappen – 1:16.122
- Leclerc – 1:16.367
- Perez – 1:16.414
When McLaren last introduced a major set of updates in Miami, they unlocked approximately 3-4 tenths in performance.
A similar step forward is expected from this weekend’s new components. The Woking-based team understands that an improvement of just a few tenths (as seen today) could give them a significant cushion.
With Red Bull and Ferrari’s development stagnating, there is a unique window of opportunity for McLaren.
Then again, the last few months have proven that converting victory with the fastest car is never a guarantee. Andrea Stella’s personnel must still ensure they avoid any strategic or operational errors.
