Nice to see the old me back – McLaren’s Lando Norris pleased with pole position

Lando Norris said it was “good to have the old me back” after he delivered the perfect response to his Montreal horror show by securing an emphatic pole position for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Norris’ world championship bid was dealt a major setback when he ran into the back of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri a fortnight ago.

But the British driver has been in excellent form at the Red Bull Ring, topping all of the practice sessions he competed in prior to qualifying, before landing the 12th pole of his career.

Norris’ margin over second-placed Charles Leclerc was a huge 0.521 seconds – the biggest of the year so far at a track with the quickest lap time.

Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points in the standings, could manage only third, 0.583 secs behind – his final Q3 lap thwarted following a spin by Pierre Gasly ahead of him – with Lewis Hamilton fourth.

After landing his first win of the season in Canada, George Russell qualified fifth on a so-so day for Mercedes. Max Verstappen could manage only seventh after he complained that his Red Bull was “undriveable”.

Norris admitted he made a fool of himself when he collided with Piastri, and he left Canada with a warning of “tough conversations” to follow by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.

However, the 25-year-old Bristolian has shown signs of his former self in the Styrian mountains, and he will start the 11th round of this 24-race season as the favourite to claim a win which must serve as a springboard to rebuilding his stuttering title charge.

Norris’ first lap in Q3 placed him two tenths faster than anyone else, before he extended his lead to more than half-a-second.

“Nice to see the old me back every now and then, huh?” said Norris over the radio after taking just the third pole of a season derailed by a number of messy performances over one lap.

Later, he added: “It was easily my best lap of the year. I did what I planned to do, and when I do that and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well.

“Some of my tough moments have been in qualifying, so to have a performance like that is exciting. I am very happy, but I want to prove it to myself over and over again and I hope this is just the beginning.

“It is about consistency. Everyone can be a hero for a weekend. It is a long journey, a long season, and the job I needed to do today, I did it. It doesn’t make up for the last weekends but I did it today and that is what mattered.”

Verstappen is 43 points off the championship pace and he faces the prospect of losing further ground following a disappointing qualifying session at a venue he has ruled.

Verstappen has won five times in Spielberg, and taken the last four pole positions, but he has looked out of sorts in his unruly Red Bull machine.

“The car is completely undriveable,” he said over the radio after finishing nearly a second behind Norris. “It is even worse than before. I don’t even know what to say.” Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda qualified only 18th on a poor afternoon for the grid’s once-all-conquering team at their home event.