One moment Lando Norris stood in his socks outside McLaren’s burning paddock home; the next he produced the lap of his life to beat the world’s greatest driver to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

On an eventful day, it had looked as certain as death and taxes that Max Verstappen would lead off Sunday’s race at Circuit de Catalunya, but the British driver’s burgeoning confidence claimed the honour by two-hundredths of a second.

Loud cheers met the most dazzling qualifying heist of the season. Almost as if a real contest, one that enduringly challenges Lando’s big pal and supreme champion, Max, might just be about to catch light.

‘Let’s f***ing go, baby,’ declared 24-year-old Norris after banking only the second pole of his career and first of the season, having had his race suit fished out from inside the smouldering building. ‘It’s my best pole. I’ve not had that many of them, but it is special after what happened today. It was my best-ever lap.’

His moment of glory came only five hours after his so-called ‘Team Hub’ was evacuated. Fire engines and ambulances rolled in. One unnamed team member, and four local marshals, who had rushed to the scene, were treated at the medical centre on site or at a nearby hospital.

Lando Norris secured a stunning pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix for McLaren

Norris produced a superb final lap to beat Verstappen to pole position at the Spanish GP

Red Bull ace and reigning world champion, Verstappen, will start from second on the grid