Lando Norris points to key factor behind slender George Russell defeat

Lando Norris believes his inability to extract the maximum potential from the soft tyres in SQ3 was the key factor behind his slender defeat to George Russell. 

Russell pipped Norris by just 0.041s to earn his third Sprint pole of the season at Zandvoort, with Norris starting in second place, having been optimistic of McLaren launching a challenge to Mercedes prior to the weekend.

Rules dictate that drivers must use medium compound tyres in both SQ1 and SQ2, before switching to a set of soft compound tyres for SQ3.

Norris had been ahead of Russell in both medium-tyre segments, but lost time to the Mercedes in the pole shootout, and lost out to his fellow Briton by less than half-a-tenth.

However, the top four of Russell, Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri were all within a tenth of a second, with the reigning world champion pleased with his effort as he described where Russell had bettered him. 

"I'm reasonably happy; it is still a good position. It was a reasonable lap, and considering how close it was, it easily could have been first, easily could have been fourth or fifth," Norris reflected.

"So, no, a good qualifying. It was close between all the teams, which is exactly what we expected, but a little disappointed to be P2 instead of P1. 

"I think just the step onto the soft; there was probably a little bit more grip that I didn't quite get out of it from the medium to the soft for Q3, so I think maybe I just pushed it a little bit more. 

"But I think otherwise; the car's been performing well and looks like it's continued its strong performance from Budapest, so plenty of positives. 

"There are some things I can work on, some things we can maybe get out of the car for tomorrow's qualifying, but we started the weekend strong, so I'm happy with that. 

"It's not an easy track to overtake, and the inside of the grid's a lot worse than the left side of the grid, so let's see."