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Lando Norris handled the growing pressure from his McLaren teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri on Saturday to secure the pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. The British racer tackled his difficulties to set his fastest lap time at 1 minute 40.562 seconds, just 0.085 seconds faster than his teammate Oscar Piastri, securing McLaren the entire front row.
With this Norris secured his fourth position of the year and 13th overall of his career. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished on the third position with a late improved lap, helping him to cruise past defending Max Verstappen's best effort for red Bull.
Alex Albon finished fifth for Williams, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull, Racing Bulls' rookies Isack Hadja and Lam Lawson and Sauber's Gabries Bortoleto.
After the win in Austria and Britain, Norris aims for a third consecutive win to go beyond Piastri's nine-point lead in the title race.
“It was a decent lap and I’m happy," said Norris. “Everyone was a bit worried after yesterday, but I wasn’t that far off. There were just a few little issues we had. I was confident that I could get back to the top."
Piastri, who had been faster than Norris in Friday’s action, said: “It’s a bit disappointing. The second lap was coming together well and then I made a mistake in turn 14 and lost a lot of time. The car was very good again, but it’s about fine margins."
“I didn’t expect it. We thought we were a lot further behind. We thought we had something more in the car with the upgrade, but it was a good lap. It takes time to maximise those upgrades," Leclerc expressed surprise at his time.
Verstappen's final lap on fresh softs was not enough to overpower an improved lap from Leclerc. Piastri also failed to improve, Leaving Norris to secure pole position.
“Oh my god, that was really, really bad," said Verstappen, as a rise in track temperature beyond 40 degrees hampered his performance.
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