Norris confident over Dutch GP pole battle

Lando Norris believes he can challenge for pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix after beating Max Verstappen to the quickest time in second practice.

The McLaren driver was 0.023secs quicker than Verstappen after the Red Bull driver struggled with balance issues, which compromised his lap.

Woking-based McLaren has been a revelation since adding an upgrade package to Norris' car at the Austrian Grand Prix, with the Briton emerging as Verstappen's nearest challenger at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix in both qualifying and the race.

Asked whether he can content for pole at Zandvoort, Norris replied: "100 per cent.

"Just it's close, I think it's going to be very close.

"It's a short track, 1:12.00 or 1:11.00 [lap times] and it will probably be a 1:10.00 lap or something [to earn pole position]."

Norris: Expect tight battle

The short track layout at Zandvoort will provide some of the smallest margins between drivers in qualifying on the schedule.

A number of teams from the bottom half of the Constructors' standings excelled in Friday practice, prompting concerns over the passage through to Q3 for the top 10 regulars.

"It's going to be very tight but between many people: you've got the Williams there, Alpine are there, the AlphaTauri's are there," explained Norris.

"There are going to be a lot of people fighting for top spot and it is not going to be easy to get to the top, but it could be easy to be knocked out early on.

"So, it's going to be tough but hopefully we can stay there and not make any mistakes."