Lando Norris qualified an impressive four tenths behind Max Verstappen during the qualifying session for the Austrian GP. The Formula 1 paddock arrived in Austria with hopes of an exciting title battle, and a glimpse of that was seen in the Sprint race when Norris attempted a move on Verstappen. Although the result didn’t favor Norris, he had high expectations for qualifying. However, he was completely outperformed by his Dutch rival, making it challenging for him to beat Verstappen in the main race.
Norris has shown a notable improvement in his performance since his victory in Miami, and McLaren was closing in on Red Bull. As a result, the 24-year-old driver emerged as a strong contender against the reigning champion. This was evident in Spain, where Norris was disappointed with his runner-up position and expressed his determination to achieve more.
Despite Norris’ belief that Red Bull was only slightly faster than McLaren after the Sprint race in Austria, the qualifying session told a different story. Norris found himself 0.404 seconds behind Verstappen in lap times. To put this into perspective, the time difference between second and seventh place was less than four tenths of a second. Norris acknowledged that McLaren would need to do something extraordinary to beat Verstappen and Red Bull, but he was willing to give it his all for that to happen.
Although Verstappen had a significant advantage over Norris in qualifying, there was still a chance for the British driver to secure the pole position. This could happen if fate didn’t favor Verstappen due to an interesting twist of events.
There was an agreement among the drivers to reduce speed when exiting the pits to create space for their warm-up laps. However, it was observed that Verstappen was unnecessarily driving slowly when exiting the pits. This action is currently under investigation as it goes against the agreed-upon time that each driver should take to exit the pits without hindering others. If Verstappen is found guilty, he may face consequences that could result in him dropping on the starting grid and granting pole position to Norris.
Although it is unlikely that incidents of this kind will result in significant penalties, the FIA has been stricter in dealing with this type of behavior. Therefore, the possibility of Verstappen losing the pole position cannot be completely ruled out.
