F1 Grand Prix of Spain - PracticeLando Norris during the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of Spain – Practice (Image: Getty)

Fans were jubilant as Lando Norris raced to a pole victory, his second of his career, in a thrilling qualifying session. Norris edged reigning three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen to a pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

2024 continues to grow better for McLaren driver Norris. The 24-year-old clinched his maiden F1 victory earlier this year in Miami. Now, ahead of the Spanish GP at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Brit has secured his second-ever pole win after 2021.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who seemed poised for his eighth pole of the season, set an imposing benchmark with a time of 1m11.673s on his initial lap and improved to 1m11.403s with help from a tow by teammate Sergio Perez.

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Despite his formidable performance, Norris managed to deliver a stunning final lap of 1m11.383s, surpassing Verstappen by a mere two hundredths of a second. The McLaren driver last secured the pole at the Sochi Autodrom in 2021,

Following the result, fans took to social media platforms to rejoice in Lando Norris’ pole victory. One user wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

“F1 is becoming fun again”

A second user commented:

“It’s just Verstappen vs Norris now”

Meanwhile, another user predicted:

“Going to be a great race between Norris and Max”

“Only a matter of time before Lando dethrones Max,” commented a fourth user.

“If you give Lando, Lewis a fast car Max looks average,” chimmed in another fan.

“McLaren are on FIRE today,” commented another enthusiast.

Lando Norris reacts to pole win in Barcelona

Norris was elated with the pole position. Speaking to the media after the race, he said (via motorsport.com):

“It was pretty much a perfect lap. It was so close, still, but I’m super happy. One of my best pole positions, not that I’ve had many! But it was just about getting a perfect lap, and that’s what we did.”

Lando Norris emphasized the importance of nailing the perfect lap, which had eluded him in previous races. He added:

“We’ve been quick the last two months, since Miami we’ve been strong. We’ve probably missed out on pole just by not having the perfect lap, but we did it today. [Winning] is our target, but it’s going to be tough against Max, against Lewis. But we’re here to win now.”

The Mercedes duo locked out the second row, with Lewis Hamilton outqualifying George Russell by a razor-thin margin of 0.002 seconds to take third place. This performance pushed the two Ferraris down the grid, with Charles Leclerc securing the fifth-fastest time, narrowly beating teammate Carlos Sainz by 0.005 seconds. Pierre Gasly delivered a surprising seventh-place finish for Alpine, defying expectations of a difficult weekend for the team.

Sergio Perez, despite his strong showing in aiding Verstappen, will start from 11th after a grid penalty from Montreal is applied, pushing his initial eighth-place qualifying result down. Rounding out the top ten are Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri.