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Piastri produces fantastic lap to beat Norris for Spanish GP pole
Piastri produces fantastic lap to beat Norris for Spanish GP pole

Yahoo

time31-05-2025

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

Piastri produces fantastic lap to beat Norris for Spanish GP pole

Championship leader Oscar Piastri conjured up a special lap to beat McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on Saturday and take pole position for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix. The Australian was a mere 0.017 seconds behind Norris after his first flying lap in Q3, but put up a better performance in his second attempt to clock 1 minute 11.546 seconds and claim his fourth pole of the season. Advertisement Former F1 driver David Coulthard praised Piastri's performance, saying: "I think this is one of those moments where you go 'I remember where I was when I saw one of the best shootouts for pole position in some time'." Piastri replied that his lap "wasn't perfect." "But happy with what I put in. It has been a good weekend so far," he said. Norris, who had benefited from a little tow from Piastri in the first lap, finished 0.209 behind his team-mate. The Red Bull of four-time defending champion Max Verstappen completed the top three, 0.302 off the pace. Advertisement "Oscar drove very well. The pace was there, just a couple of mistakes and yeah, didn't do it," said Norris, who took pole in Spain last year but was beaten by Verstappen. The Dutchman, however, thinks that it will be "tough to beat" McLaren this time in Sunday's race. "We were lacking all weekend compared to them, but we executed well and that third position is where we should be. I'm here, squeezing everything out of the car," Verstappen said. His performance was at least much better than the one of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who will start the race in last. Advertisement Following Norris' win in Monaco last weekend, Piastri retained his lead in the standings, but only three points ahead of his team-mate. McLaren have dominated the season, with Piastri winning four and Norris two of the eight races so far. Verstappen is the only non-McLaren driver to claim victory at a grand prix this year, having won in Japan and Imola. The Mercedes of George Russell qualified fourth, followed by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Charles Leclerc was seventh after a tyre strategy choice which Ferrari hope pays off in the race. "We only had four new sets of softs for this qualifying session compared to others who had five, but we made that choice and I think we can put up a good fight starting from P7," he said. Advertisement Pierre Gasly of Alpine was eighth and Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls was ninth. Home favourite Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin was 10th quickest as he was cheered by the Spanish crowd. But compatriot Carlos Sainz was only 18th with the Williams.

Norris shrugs off gremlins with record lap for Monaco pole
Norris shrugs off gremlins with record lap for Monaco pole

Japan Times

time25-05-2025

  • Automotive
  • Japan Times

Norris shrugs off gremlins with record lap for Monaco pole

Lando Norris shrugged off his gremlins and revived his world championship bid on Saturday when he became the fastest driver in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix and claimed pole position for Sunday's classic race. Driving with impeccable judgement, pace and purpose, the 25-year-old British driver clocked a best lap of 1 minute, 9.954 seconds to outpace local hero and last year's winner Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 0.109 of a second. It was the first time any driver had lapped the sinuous barrier-lined Mediterranean street circuit in less than 70 seconds and came only seconds after Leclerc had appeared to have secured his fourth Monaco pole position. For Norris it was his first Monaco pole, his second this year and the 11th of his career — and a critical advantage for the slowest and shortest circuit of the season, where only 10 drivers have won from lower than third on the grid since 1950. While a disappointed Leclerc lamented traffic that hampered his first flying run, affecting his overall rhythm, Norris was buoyant after ending a dismal run in qualifying and falling 13 points behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the drivers' title race. "The team has done a fantastic job so thank you to everyone here and back at the factory," he said. "These days don't come easy and I am proud to give something back to them. "It's been a long time coming. I feel good and I don't think you realize how good this feels with quite a few struggles over the last couple of months, especially here in Monaco. It's a beautiful place and the hardest track probably to do it. "Up against the hometown hero (Leclerc), I'm very proud of the whole team so I am pleased after all the hard work in the last few months." Piastri was third, ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari. Hamilton, however, was later hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen. As a result Red Bull's four-time champion moved up a place to fourth, with remarkable rookie Isack Hadjar of RB and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin on the third row, ahead of Hamilton. Norris agreed that his mentality had been a key part of his success after admitting to self-doubts in recent weeks. "Honestly, that's the tricky part and to consistently find a lap time because you know it's what the others are going to be doing and improving more and more. "You've got to take a similar amount of risks, but when you get to Q3, the final lap is just about who can risk a little bit more and commit a little bit more. "It was a nice and well put together lap and it feels very good when you cross the line and you know it's all paid off." He said he had not considered the mandatory two pit-stops strategy required on Sunday. "Honestly, at the minute, I have no idea. I'm going to enjoy today and I've worked hard for today. I'm happy with qualifying and I'm going to live the moment a little bit and then I will focus on tomorrow." Piastri, who leads him by 13 points after seven of this year's 24 races, admitted he had endured a messy two days of practice and qualifying. "I think I've hit more walls this weekend than I have in my whole career so it's been untidy. I've been struggling to get into the groove a little bit and I think in qualifying I was much happier with things and I felt pretty good. "We've been doing some digging this weekend and to come out with this result is a decent effort." He added: "We're in good positions, but it's still going to be an exciting race tomorrow with the two-stop so let's see what happens." Last year's winner and local hero Leclerc said: "I'm just frustrated. We know we don't have the car for wins this year."

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