Lando Norris feels back to his old self with pole position for the Austrian GP

SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Lando Norris said he felt back to his old self after taking pole position by more than half a second in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Norris is seeking a strong result in Austria after colliding with his McLaren teammate and Formula 1 title rival Oscar Piastri at the last race in Canada. Norris crashed out and immediately apologized, while Piastri extended his standings lead.

Piastri rued his bad luck in third place on Saturday after a yellow flag meant he had to abandon his final lap.

Norris set the pace throughout the final part of qualifying and his final lap increased his advantage over second-placed Charles Leclerc of Ferrari to 0.521 of a second.

“Nice to see the old me back every now and then,” Norris quipped to his team over the radio.

Norris hopes it’s ‘just the beginning’

It’s the third pole position of the season for Norris and the first since last month’s Monaco GP, which he also won. Norris has been less consistent than Piastri in qualifying this season, even when he’s later shown he can match the Australian’s pace in the race.

“Some of my tougher moments have been the qualis, so to put in a lap like today, to have the performance throughout this weekend like I had, was pleasing for myself,” Norris said.

“I’m very happy with today but I want to prove it to myself over and over again and hopefully this is just the beginning of it.”

Norris ended a streak of five pole positions at the Red Bull Ring for defending champion Max Verstappen, going back to the 2021 Styrian GP.

Piastri was .062 further back in third and said he had to abandon his final run of qualifying when Pierre Gasly’s Alpine spun in front of him, causing a yellow flag which meant drivers behind had to slow down.

“Lando’s been very quick all weekend so it would have been a tough challenge, but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to be on the front row,” Piastri said.

“Always a shame when you don’t even get the chance, but we can still have a good race from there. Sometimes it’s just not your day.”

Verstappen and Red Bull struggle

Lewis Hamilton was fourth as Ferrari had one of its best qualifying performances of the season and Verstappen seventh for Red Bull after his final lap was also spoiled by the yellow flag.

It was a difficult day for Red Bull at its home track. Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda hasn’t scored a point in three races and continued to struggle. He was 18th. “I didn’t have any front grip, bro,” he told the team.

There was a delay for a red flag in the second part of qualifying when grass at the side of the track caught fire. The same problem caused repeated disruptions in qualifying at the Japanese GP in April.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing