Lando Norris admitted his first Formula 1 pole at the Russian Grand Prix gave him a feeling he missed out on when he crashed in Belgium, but the McLaren driver could yet lay a bigger ghost to rest.
After earning his first pole position in F1 Norris admitted it gave him a feeling he missed out on at Spa, where he had been quickest in the first two segments of a wet qualifying session then crashed at the start of Q3.
It ultimately cost him a first grand prix victory as well because the farcical ‘race’ was settled by qualifying.
But Norris sees an opportunity to “achieve something I didn’t manage to” in the Italian Grand Prix as he prepares to fight for his first F1 win at Sochi.
The 21-year-old completed a McLaren one-two in the previous race at Monza, where he followed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo closely but opted not to challenge him for the victory with McLaren’s first win since 2012 on the line.
That, rather than what happened at Spa, is likely to be of more mental significance to Norris this weekend.
In addition to the events of Belgium being a less-satisfying way to win his first F1 race, Norris had mostly made his peace with what happened at Spa already. It was still “a little bit” in his head prior to this week but he did not regret his approach because he felt it was just a matter of luck and that any driver could have crashed in such conditions.
“Of course I didn’t want it to happen and I feel crap that it happened but I don’t regret my approach of just going out and doing what I did,” he told The Race. “I felt like I took the risk I needed to take.”
For that reason, Norris was able to move on. Whereas coming to Sochi the fact he could not challenge Ricciardo for the win in Monza “sits in my mind now”.
“I guess it hurt, just the fact that I didn’t have the opportunity to see what could have happened if I went for it,” he said on Friday evening before his shock pole.
“What could have happened, of course that sits deep inside me especially considering it was for a win.”
Now Norris can go for it. It will be difficult with clear favourite Lewis Hamilton still starting fourth in the superior Mercedes but there are at least no shackles to constrain Norris.
He rightly points out “I don’t have anything to make up for at Monza” but it’s not about atoning for something he fell short of. It’s, in his words, “a second chance to try to do even better”.
Norris was only behind Ricciardo in Italy because of how the start of the Saturday sprint race played out. That would ultimately come to define Sunday’s grand prix. So Norris was comfortable with his own performance but the inability to fight for a first win was understandably frustrating.
“I was there where I deserved to be,” he said. “I don’t have anything to make up for it, but of course I have that opportunity to try to achieve something that I didn’t manage to achieve in Italy.
“I’m definitely going to be going for it, of course. In every situation you do – especially when I have the situation we’re gonna have with a Ferrari behind me and a Williams, that bit of a buffer so we have a good chance.
“But I don’t think my approach or my mentality has changed because of that.
“I don’t feel I need to make up for it or anything. It’s just a second chance to try to do even better.”
