McLaren reveal surprising truth over Norris 'reassuring kick' after Austin pole

McLaren has revealed that Lando Norris's radio message before his United States Grand Prix pole lap was not actually the idea of his race engineer.

On his out-lap in Q3, Norris's engineer Will Joseph told the Briton to "trust the car, don't overload combined [turning and braking at the same time] and the lap time will come" after a tough weekend up until that point, with Max Verstappen firmly the better of the two title protagonists.

Norris had lost ground in the title race hours before after finishing third to Verstappen's win in the sprint, meaning the points gap grew to 54 points with 172 left up for grabs, but Norris delivered a lap good enough for pole, albeit he was aided by George Russell's crash bringing an early end to the session.

Reflecting on the radio call that Norris himself felt he needed to be "reassured", team principal Andrea Stella has revealed that the idea for it did not come from Joseph.

"I think it was an encouraging kick," Stella told media including RacingNews365.

"We heard Will because he is the one talking to the driver, but actually, in this case, Will conveyed the message that was provided to him by Andrew Jarvis, who is the performance engineer.

"The driver, race engineer and performance engineer work very, very closely and they develop a language, quick references that are capable of being passed rapidly, even as you prepare for a qualifying lap. 

"They include content that is technical, is driving and can sometimes be reassuring. 

"I think that message had those three elements in a single message becuase it was to do with how to approach the driving. 

"It was reassuring because we knew this performance was in the car if you don't overcook what you are trying to achieve - and it was technical because it was also related to some of the settings on the car that we had adjusted from the sprint to qualifying."