The Formula 1 title race might be heating up again.
Lando Norris took pole position in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday and will be looking to close the gap to Max Verstappen’s championship lead after a tough day for the Red Bull driver.
McLaren, aiming to narrow the gap to Red Bull in the constructors’ standings, secured the top two spots on the grid for Sunday’s race at Monza, with Norris finishing 0.109 seconds ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen will start from seventh on a track where passing is difficult. This gives Norris a chance to reduce the three-time champion’s lead in the drivers’ standings, which is now 70 points with nine races remaining.
“For sure it’s a good opportunity,” Norris said. “I expect (Verstappen) to come through and probably be behind us quite quickly. Their race pace looked very strong on Friday… for some reason they just didn’t seem to take those steps forward through qualifying.
“Even his gap to Perez wasn’t as big as what it normally is so I don’t know if he just struggled more with something or just didn’t put good enough laps in but it’ll be for a reason I’m sure and we need to try and make the most of that.”
Norris has now achieved back-to-back poles for the first time and his fifth pole overall. He won from the front last weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.
“Another pole, which is amazing,” he said. “To have two cars first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend is a surprise, but a nice one. My lap, it hurts me to say, wasn’t a great lap. So a bit surprised at the end but very happy.”
Given Red Bull’s recent struggles, Norris could have been closer to Verstappen in the standings if he had not followed team orders and let Piastri win in Hungary.
