Despite the threat of rain, Lando Norris risked one more lap and clinched his second back-to-back pole position of the season at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP. The Briton clocked a time of 1:11.163, topping the time chart and beating both Mercedes drivers by just over a tenth.
Reflecting on his performance in Qualifying, Norris shared that the threat of rain surpringsly had a positive impact on his final flying lap. The Briton also revealed the changes McLaren made between the Sprint and Qualifying as well as his expectations for the 2026 F1 Dutch GP.
Norris on his final flying lap in qualifying at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
Reports of rain came in the final five minutes of Q3. This reduced the temperature. However, Norris revealed that the drop in track temperature actually aided him in his final flying lap attempt.
“I mean, it was just, I don’t know how much the rain honestly affected things. Certainly, the lap time was a bit better than I expected, and I honestly, it maybe just cooled the track a little bit. And actually the tyres performed better through the lap. But I wouldn’t say it affected anything in a bad way.”
It was not a perfect lap from Norris at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
Despite placing himself on pole, it was not a perfect lap. As shared by the regining world champion, Turn 1 was the section he struggled most at. The close gap established after the first round in Q3 also placed significant pressure on Norris prior to his second attempt.
The Briton admitted that the pressure did get to him and he made several minor mistakes during the lap. Nonetheless, he kept his head down and pushed through, saying it eventually “paid off”.
“Only my turn one was pretty, pretty shocking. It was probably my worst turn one of the weekend. Otherwise, it wasn’t a lap that felt mega. It was just one where I just had to commit through everything because I knew how close it was going to be. We saw how close it was after Q3, round 1.
“So it was one where I just kind of committed a lot more through moments and almost made more mistakes. But because I committed a lot more through some of these mistakes, I kind of seemed to gain more than I seemed to lose at times. So it’s always hard to know because I don’t know my delta, so I don’t know where I went quicker or slower, but it was a lap where I just thought I have nothing to lose and it paid off. So those are also nice laps to have.”
What McLaren changed after the Sprint
Norris had qualified P2 in Sprint Qualifying on Friday but lost the position to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during the Sprint, eventually finishing the race in P3. The 26-year-old then lamented McLaren’s lack of pace as Mercedes and Ferrari were quicker.
When asked what changed between the Sprint and Qualifying, Norris responded:
“We’ve not changed that much. There wasn’t a lot we could change. We were pretty happy that we were getting everything out of the car. We’ve tried to hint it into a direction that would help. It seemed to, I guess, in terms of lap time.
“Certainly, the car didn’t feel that much better in the places we were struggling. Our biggest losses were still the same places, the same corners as it was this morning. It’s just new tyres, low fuel. It just seems to mask quite a few of our issues and that was probably still the case today. And I just drove well. I just put a lot of things together. I got more out of my lap than I did yesterday. Still wasn’t a perfect lap, but I’m driving well. And like I said last weekend, when the car can be in a place where I have confidence and I can drive to the level I can drive at, then we can be on pole.”
Norris looking ahead to the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
Despite clinching pole, Norris revealed that McLaren would likely struggle during the 2026 F1 Dutch GP. As not much had been done to the set-up, he is anticipating yet another difficult outing. As explained by Norris, the MCL40 is exceptionally strong in high-speed corners. However, it often struggles with performance and grip in tight, slow-speed corners compared to their rivals.
Norris shared that while there has been progress, he is not as confident entering the 2026 F1 Dutch GP.
“We’ve not changed those things. Our car is certainly the best in high speed, no doubt, or of the biggest balls. I don’t know. But it’s very, very strong there and there’s low speed. We just really still struggle. Struggle too much to be confident about everything. We definitely made maybe a little bit of progress, but it’s still ‘going to be the trickiest side of things tomorrow.”
Norris on adapting his driving style to the McLaren
The Briton also shared his insights on the psychological challenges of adapting in F1. McLaren cars have a long reputation for having very specific handling characteristics, as shared by their drivers both past and present.
Norris added to the discourse, sharing that the car’s need for him to adapt his driving style changes every season. He went on to explain that when the car fails to perform, it is natural for drivers to inevitably blame themselves and dissect every move on track. An unfortunate scenario, he has been in himself.
“I don’t know why it’s just been a thing with our car and everyone that’s driven our car has said a similar thing, but it changes a lot every year, that’s for sure. You know, and I guess probably a similar story from what George is saying now to what I had last season. It’s easy to overthink things.”
On overcoming the doubt
The reigning champion explained that to overcome this, he advises drivers to remember they drive at the F1 level and have the instincts to adapt automatically rather than over-analyse.
“It’s easy to kind of overcomplicate stuff at the same time. And at the end of the day, you kind of just got to believe, you know, you’re in Formula One, you’re one of the best drivers in the world, have some faith that you kind of know how to automatically change things rather than really consciously digging too deep and overcomplicating at times. So I certainly had, yeah, that fair share.”
Touching on the 2026 F1 season, Norris shared that it has been yet another season of significant changes with the technical regulation overhaul. Regardless, he is excited by the positive step in improvement made by McLaren thus far.
“It’s now become just the norm of driving a McLaren. It seems that every year, even if it’s a pretty similar car, it’s just forget last year and try and start like it’s my first year in F1 again. So yeah, always a challenge. And like George said, it’s part of Formula One and it’s part of the challenge you have to overcome. Of course, this year, again, it’s been quite a big change comparing to last season, both in a quali point of view and from a race point of view, but yeah, it seems to have taken a step forward and that’s a good thing to see.”
On the possibility of catching up in the Drivers’ Standings
Norris enters the second half of the 2026 F1 season, P5 in the Drivers’ Standings with 134 points to his name, 90 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli. McLaren currently sits P3 in the Teams’ Standings with 230 points, 162 points behind Mercedes.
When asked if he was confident in McLaren’s ability to catch up to Mercedes in the Constructors’ Standings and his own ability to catch up to Antonelli, especially considering Verstappen’s impressive comeback in the second half last season, Norris insisted that his main priority would be the 2026 F1 Dutch GP.
The Briton even joked that he hoped Mercedes would make the same mistakes McLaren had in the second half of the 2025 F1 season to give himself a better chance of closing up the gap.
Nonetheless, he is motivated by the progress McLaren has made thus far and remains positive about his title run chances.
“Yeah, similar, I guess. Obviously, we were on the not so good end of it last year, but there’s no point thinking about it. It’s just like George says, just focus on tomorrow. I honestly don’t care what I’m doing next weekend or the weekend after. It’s nice to know that it’s a possibility. And of course, yeah, I’m hoping both Mercedes get a double DSQ in Vegas like we did and decide not to box in Qatar for a free pit stop. So as long as they make the same mistakes, it’ll probably be just as easy.
“But yeah, every year is different. So I mean, for me, we’re still trying to play catch-up with certain things. But I’m getting everything out of it for now. And that’s all I can be pleased about. So I’m happy. It’s still a very long way to go. I’m optimistic. I still believe that it’s possible. And that’s all I need for now.”
