Norris displays his potential...but can he keep it unlocked?

“Everyone can be a hero in one weekend,” said Lando Norris after taking pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix. It's something he knows all too well.

We’ve been here before with Norris this season. His performance in Australia was strong, and so too was his display in Monaco. But the fact those are the only two times it didn’t feel like there wasn’t more on the table shows how frustratingly inconsistent his year has been.

On one hand, his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri deserves huge credit for his own level of performance, week-in, week-out. But on the other, Norris needs to stop making so many mistakes, in particular during qualifying.

That might sound slightly odd to say after a Canadian Grand Prix where Norris crashed into his teammate and retired, but Montreal was another race where Norris was out of position and was starting a number of places behind Piastri. His race pace is strong, but he too often was in a form of recovery mode.

Austria was different, as he took pole by over half a second from Charles Leclerc.

“I mean, it's very satisfying, but, again, it's about consistency,” Norris said. “Everyone can be a hero in one weekend. It's progress. It's steps forward. I'm very happy with today, but it's still a long journey. It's a long season.

“The job I needed to do today, I did. And it doesn't make up for the last few weekends or anything, but I did it today and that's what mattered. So I’m very satisfied and happy for putting it together when I needed to.”

If Norris seemed a little impassive after his crushing pole performance, it might be because of how well aware he is of the need to capitalize on it. Clive Rose/Getty Images

The bit that Norris put together so well was his first lap in Q3. It’s where he has so often stumbled, committing an error that puts him under pressure for his second lap and increases the likelihood of him compounding the situation. But on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring, his first lap of Q3 was good enough for pole position, and it put the pressure on his rivals to find something special, while also freeing Norris up to push that bit more himself.

“I think all the way through quali, actually, the gap to some of the others was bigger than I was expecting,” he admitted. “They were not miles away in FP3, but then as soon as we went out for quali, we seemed like a good step ahead.

“So, I wasn't too worried; but there’s [Piastri], he's also pretty quick, and the expectation is for him to go out and put some good laps in too, especially in Q3s normally. So, I think the pressure was still there, and I still knew there were places to improve  – just try to do Turn 1, 3, 4 correctly and then push it a little bit more in the high speed, and that's what I did.”

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“In all the places I could be close to being in the gravel or over the limit, I feel like I was. So, it was a very good lap," he said. "I think I improved in every corner and, especially around here, with the high speed in Turn 6, Turn 7, 9, and 10 – especially in quali – you’ve got to commit, and it's exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.

“It’s rewarding when things go right like they did today, and to put the laps in that I did today, I was very happy with. It was a fun qualifying.”

Fun for Norris, but maybe not so fun for the chasing pack to see. Leclerc said the pole position lap “must have been very special for sure” but also is not ruling Ferrari out of the fight for victory. Strong race pace on Friday is one reason, but another is the feeling that one qualifying performance doesn’t necessarily mark a step change for Norris’ form.

The McLaren driver himself concedes that he needs to find consistency, but suggests upgrades that are designed to improve his feeling with the MCL39 could be helping him unlock more of his potential.

“I think on deliveries, consistency and putting it in when it counts, in Q3 was easily the best lap I've done for this whole season – probably even better than Monaco, honestly," Norris said. "Maybe not as exciting a lap as Monaco, but definitely a better-put-together lap than I did there.

“Some of that is small things that have allowed me to get that out of the car from the changes within the car. Whether that's the upgrades or not, it's always very difficult to tell, but it was definitely the most confident and comfortable I've been in terms of getting lap time out of the car and understanding that.

“I think it showed today that when I have those feelings – it's still not all there, but more there than before – I can have a day like today. So it shows that the feelings I've been requiring, the feelings that I've not been getting as easily, when they are more my way and more where I want them to be, I can put in better performances and have days like today.

“I think that's reassuring for myself, but it's still about consistency. This is one weekend – I’ve got to do it for another, what, 12 or 13 or something.”

More than that, Norris needs to do it across the full weekend, and the points are paid on Sunday. It’s no good raving about his qualifying performance marking a potential turning point and then he loses out to Piastri or the Ferraris in the race. And Piastri never got the chance to show what he can do on his final attempt due to yellow flags for the spinning Pierre Gasly.

But the strong first Q3 lap from Norris is what set up his pole position and left rivals vulnerable to such a scenario. It builds momentum and helps Norris start from a position where he’s no longer playing catch-up.

It was a display of the highest quality that the 25-year-old knows he is capable of. The challenge remains to show that capability on a regular basis.