Norris reveals timely radio message that helped secure pole
Lando Norris opened up on a particular moment that preceded his impressive run to pole position in Saturday’s US Grand Prix qualifying, one in which his McLaren race engineer Will Joseph conveyed a timely message over the radio to the Briton.
Norris claimed pole position with his first flying lap in Q3, narrowly edging championship leader Max Verstappen in a session later cut short by George Russell’s crash, which triggered a yellow flag and prevented any further runs.
While the three-time Grand Prix winner admitted to a stroke of luck in the timing of his run, he also revealed that he wasn't brimming with confidence heading into the top-ten shootout.
"I was bouncing everywhere, and I just lacked confidence at that point to put a good lap together," Norris said. "And I'd been struggling in Turn 1, been struggling in Turn 12. But we were there or thereabouts."
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It was at this point that Joseph intervened on the team radio, offering Norris a rare pep talk.
"Trust the car," Joseph said. "The lap time will come." The message, which was broadcast on the world feed, provided Norris with a much-needed boost.
"It's a very rare thing," the McLaren driver admitted. "He knows I don't like that kind of stuff normally. It's just because I said after Q2 I was not confident at all in the car.
"It was more just: 'Let's get a good lap in and be there'. So that's what I did.
"Whether or not what I did was because of Will's comments, I'd probably say no, otherwise I'll boost his ego too much...
“But I probably needed it a little bit just because I was struggling a lot with the car and we've been a bit off this weekend. A little kick never hurts sometimes."
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella offered additional insight on the behind-the-scenes moment, revealing that Joseph's message was actually based on feedback from Norris' performance engineer, Andrew Jarvis.
"We hear Will, because Will 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," Stella said.
©McLaren
"The driver, the race engineer and the performance engineer and some of the others, they work very, very closely [to] develop a language with quick references that can be passed rapidly, even as you prepare a qualifying lap.
"They include content that is technical, is driving [related] and sometimes is even kind of reassuring, and that message added these three elements in a single message, because it had to do with how to approach the driving.”
The message from Joseph was not only reassuring but also provided Norris with specific technical advice on how to approach the qualifying lap.
"It was reassuring, because we knew that there's performance in the car if you don't overcook what you're trying to achieve,” he said. “And it is technical, because it is related also to some of the settings of the car that we had adjusted from the sprint into qualifying."
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