Lando Norris makes ‘best average starter’ claim after million dollar question asked

McLaren driver Lando Norris.

Lando Norris defended his F1 2024 starts, while Oscar Piastri is going for the win himself after the suggestion of a supporting role to Norris.

After rain-impacted running through much of practice ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, the track remained dry for qualifying where Norris uncorked a rapid 1:09.673 to take pole by north of three-tenths over home hero Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris still ‘one of the best average starters’

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Never one to shy away from self-criticism, race starts are an area where Norris has admitted improvement is needed, the issue on display last time out as he went wide at Turn 1 at Spa and lost major ground.

But, when asked by media, including PlanetF1.com, in the post-qualifying press conference whether he has a ‘special plan’ to use against title rival Verstappen into Turn 1, Norris insisted that despite race starts having “not been my forte” recently, he still ranks among the best on the grid.

“Yes. I mean, it’s obvious. I know my starts have not been my forte over the last probably… They’ve not been bad, honestly, I’m still up there with being one of the best average starters,” he said.

“I’ve just missed out on a couple of races and maybe slightly worse than what it’s been over the course of a season. There’s a couple of times when they’ve not been quite where they need to be. There have been a couple of times I’ve been on the front row. So like I said, they’ve not been for any certain reason. They’ve been different things each time.

“But I feel confident I put in a good amount of work to kind of try and make my starts a bit better. And tomorrow’s a new day.”

Attention then switched to Norris’ team-mate Piastri, who has been the subject of future McLaren team orders speculation with Norris the closest Drivers’ Championship challenger to Verstappen. The gap is 78 points heading into Grand Prix Sunday at Zandvoort.

However, when asked if he is ready to help Norris retain the lead on Lap 1, Piastri stressed that he is out to win this for himself from P3 on the grid.

“I mean, if I can get myself into the lead, then that works well for me,” he said.

“But, yeah, I mean, I think the start is always a good opportunity to make up ground if you can.

“Yeah, obviously I want to finish as high as I can. And, yeah, if I can get into second, then obviously that makes life a little bit more straightforward for the team.

“But… I mean, I’m not going to do anything specific to try and make that happen. I want to try and win the race myself. And let’s see what I can try and do.”

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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed that “fairness and integrity” will be their mindset when it comes to any team orders that may be used in F1 2024, insisting that having a defined number one driver does not fit with his racing philosophy.

“I think when it comes to these conversations about being the number one, I don’t think that’s a good way of approaching racing,” Stella told media, including PlanetF1.com, at Zandvoort.

“For us, we’d rather approach racing from fairness, and integrity, and then see what comes, and what sheds from this kind of approach. It’s 10 races to go.

“I think for Lando to realistically be in condition to chase the World Championship, he needs to keep performing at a very high level. He needs to keep being fast. And then you gain your ranks on track.

“If you gain your ranks, if you gain your merits on track by being fast, by being competitive, then we will evaluate, always led by integrity and fairness, whether on some occasions, we need the team to take a certain direction in a 50-50 decision, or if we want to have a conversation with Oscar and say, like, ‘Oscar, would you be available to do this to support Lando chasing the World Championship?’, but it will always have to be a conversation before the race. Nobody should be surprised.

“We all should be in agreement because, ultimately, we chase and we are in the quest for a Driver’s World Championship as a team.

“There’s nobody that goes his own way, and then the others will have to follow. So that’s our style, which is I don’t think it can be necessarily and simply summarised in like, we elect a number one, and then we work accordingly. I would like to keep this more articulated as a team, and then be more on a case-by-case situation.”

Oscar Piastri sits P4 in the Drivers’ Championship, 32 points behind Norris.

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