The fight for pole position in Formula 1 recently has more often than not been a matter of ekeing out the final hundredths of a second.
Qualifying battles like Hungary, where Lando Norris edged out McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.022 seconds, or Spain, where the Briton pipped Max Verstappen, are typical of the kind of gaps that we have got used to.
So as F1 returned from the summer break for the Dutch Grand Prix, the expectation was that it would be business as unusual – especially with a short Zandvoort track further compressing the order.
But things have not turned out that way and, off the back of a pretty big upgrade that McLaren has delivered this weekend, Norris proved absolutely dominant as he beat local hero Verstappen by 0.356 seconds.
The margin is far from common this year. Indeed, a scan back over the season shows it is the third biggest advantage over a single lap that any driver has had in 2024.
Top five pole position gaps this season
* Verstappen had a 10-place grid penalty for a power unit change so did not start from pole.
So have we witnessed a step change in form from McLaren that could change the narrative of the campaign? Maybe…maybe not.
While there is correlation between a big upgrade coming and Norris pulling off his biggest pole gap of the year so far, his own team thinks it wrong to believe that the changes have unleashed a dramatic improvement from its car.
In fact, with McLaren being clear that its upgrades are more about delivering better aero efficiency rather than a being a massive downforce step, team principal Andrea Stella thinks the performance advantage was more about Zandvoort track characteristics.
“I think we cannot read into the gap from pole position to the second position as this being a reflection of the upgrades that we took trackside,” said Stella, reflecting on the margin shown. “The upgrades, they do not deliver this amount of performance.
“I think what we have seen is the combination of several conditions that helped our car deliver a strong performance.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“First of all, I would classify this circuit in the category of Hungary, Barcelona, in which we have long corners in the medium speed range, which do suit our car characteristics very well. We were on pole position in Barcelona and in Hungary as well.
“Then the second factor is certainly the upgrades. Numerically, they seem like they have confirmed the expectations. So, they did add some lap time compared to what was already a competitive baseline.
“Then, if we want to mention a third factor, there was no sunshine. The relatively coldish track and ambient temperature conditions seem to suit our car.”
Something else that Stella thinks needed to be thrown into the mix was the driver factor too. Just as Verstappen has been superb in delivering some of his pole advantages this year, so too did Stella think Norris pulled off something special at Zandvoort on Saturday.
“We have seen also a bit of the Lando Norris factor,” he explained. “I’m not surprised at all that Lando can put together this kind of performance, because he has done it in the past.
“Here it seems like, in fairness, he’s been in great shape throughout the entire weekend.
“So, I think all these factors compounded may give this kind of result, which obviously is very encouraging. But I would take it with a pinch of salt, because all these factors may vary once we go to the next event.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
There are other elements outside of McLaren’s control that perhaps flattered Norris’s advantage too. This includes the fact that Verstappen’s final Q3 lap was not perfect, although perhaps that was a consequence of him needing to push harder than normal because the RB20 is a little on the backfoot.
“I had a bit of a moment in 11-12, but that was also a bit my qualifying in general,” he said.
“Every run, there were always one or two corners where I felt like I was losing a lot of time with just the gust of wind. And it seemed like it was very sensitive for us.”
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko reckoned that the Verstappen moment at Turn 12 – where he had to correct a slide and lost momentum all the way through to the banking – had probably explained more than half the gap to Norris.
“It still looked very good up to turn 12,” he said. “He lost one and a half to two tenths there, hence the relatively large gap for this track.”
Pulling together his best sector times gives an optimum lap of 1m09.930 seconds – which is just 0.257 seconds behind Norris’s best lap.
And while that may be a bigger gap than we have seen at some recent races, it is not as extreme a step change as things appeared at first glance after qualifying.
