Andrea Stella has described Lando Norris’ Spanish Grand Prix pole lap at the Madring as one of the most impressive he has witnessed across roughly 450 Formula 1 Grands Prix, after the McLaren driver produced a remarkable final Q3 effort to beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds. Even more strikingly, Norris achieved the result despite losing around three and a half tenths at the final corner.
The pole position came almost out of nowhere. Norris had struggled during the earlier stages of qualifying and McLaren appeared to be heading towards a Saturday in which it could have been only the fourth-fastest team. Instead, the reigning world champion produced what he described as one of the best laps of his career, turning the final moments of Q3 completely on their head.
Andrea Stella stunned by Lando Norris’ Madrid pole lap
Speaking during the post-qualifying press conference, also attended by FormulaPassion.it, Andrea Stella made it clear how much of the unexpected pole position came from Norris himself rather than from a sudden change in the underlying competitive order.
“I would say this was definitely one of the most impressive laps I have ever witnessed,” Andrea Stella said. “I have been looking at data and telemetry for 450 Grands Prix and I have to admit that, honestly, we were not performing at the level needed to take pole position. At no point during the weekend had we shown that the car was capable of competing at the level of the best.”
That context made Norris’ final lap even more extraordinary. McLaren had shown flashes of potential during the weekend, but had not consistently looked capable of beating Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull over a single lap.
The Woking team had arrived in Madrid believing the circuit could suit some of the MCL40’s characteristics, particularly its need for a track with plenty of corners and fewer long straights. Even so, its Friday running had left questions over whether the car could genuinely challenge at the front, with McLaren initially focusing on closing the gap to Mercedes rather than assuming it had outright pole-winning pace.
Norris lost 0.35 seconds at the final corner and still took pole
The decisive lap was exceptionally fast, but it was not perfect. Norris ran wide of the ideal line at the final corner, costing himself a significant amount of time just before reaching the finish line.
According to Andrea Stella, the mistake was worth more than three tenths of a second.
“I think the most impressive thing is the fact that he took pole position despite losing three and a half tenths at the last corner,” Andrea Stella explained. “That means that, without this problem, it would have been quite a convincing pole position.”
At the same time, the McLaren team principal believed the mistake was partly a consequence of just how aggressively Norris had attacked the rest of the lap.
“But at the same time, it was a consequence of having pushed to the limit throughout the first part of the lap. What makes this lap unique, especially when you look at the telemetry, is the precision, the braking, the entry speed, the way he attacks the corner, maintaining the power. Everything is executed with a truly unique level of precision.”
The result allowed Norris to beat championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli by only 0.011 seconds, converting a session that had looked difficult for McLaren into one of the standout qualifying performances of the season.
McLaren worked throughout the weekend to fix its slow-corner weakness
Andrea Stella was keen to emphasise that Norris’ performance was also supported by extensive work from the McLaren engineers, particularly in the areas where the MCL40 had struggled from the beginning of the weekend.
“So congratulations to Lando, but also a big thank you to the team because, from the first laps in free practice, we had the clear objective of improving performance in the low-speed corners and over the kerbs,” Andrea Stella said.
“We were behind in the first sector, in the slow sections, and for the drivers it was a difficult car to manage in order to extract the perfect lap. Even though there were flashes of potential, it was extremely difficult to extract it, but we kept trying session after session.”
Low-speed performance has been a recurring McLaren theme during 2026. Norris has previously acknowledged that improving the MCL40’s slow-corner weakness could unlock another level of performance, making the progress achieved in Madrid particularly significant.
FP2 gearbox problem made Norris’ recovery even harder
McLaren’s task was complicated further by the gearbox problem that effectively cost Norris the entire second practice session on Friday. That removed valuable track time at a completely new circuit and left the reigning champion with considerably less preparation than his rivals.
“Obviously in FP2 the problem caused us to lose the whole session, so I think that makes Lando’s work in qualifying even more extraordinary, giving us one of the most exceptional performances of his career,” Andrea Stella added.
The lack of Friday running also explains why McLaren entered qualifying with less certainty than Mercedes, which had shown consistently strong pace during practice. Norris’ ability to adapt quickly in Q3 therefore became even more important.
Andrea Stella still uncertain over McLaren’s Spanish GP strategy
Despite securing pole position, McLaren is far less certain about Sunday’s race. Overtaking is expected to be difficult at the Madring, making the start particularly important, but Andrea Stella believes tyre management could become the decisive unknown.
McLaren had already identified tyre behaviour as one of its biggest risks in Madrid, and Friday’s running did little to remove those concerns.
“On Friday the tyres suffered quite a lot and the graining arrived quickly,” Andrea Stella said. “In this case there is also a bit of doubt because the Soft has less of it, but this year we have seen that it is not necessarily true that the harder compound will have less graining.”
Mercedes appeared to manage the phenomenon better than McLaren during the available running, leaving the Woking team unsure how the balance of performance will evolve over a full Grand Prix distance.
“Mercedes showed the best resistance. We don’t have any certainties, but we tend to develop front graining faster than the others, and that’s something we need to improve.”
One stop or two? McLaren prepared to adapt during the race
The uncertainty means McLaren is not committing to a fixed strategic picture before the race. The team will need to assess tyre behaviour as the circuit evolves and remain ready to switch approach if degradation develops differently from expectations.
“It will be a race in which we have a lot to discover,” Andrea Stella explained. “Will it be a one-stop or a two-stop? We will have to be flexible and adapt the strategies during the race.”
That uncertainty leaves the Spanish Grand Prix far from decided despite the importance of track position at the narrow Madring. Norris has the most valuable starting place of all, but tyre graining, the launch and strategic flexibility could still determine whether McLaren can convert Saturday’s surprise into victory.
For now, however, the focus remains on the lap that changed qualifying. McLaren had not looked like the obvious pole contender and Norris even surrendered around 0.35 seconds at the final corner, yet he still found enough performance to beat Antonelli by 0.011 seconds. After hundreds of Formula 1 weekends spent studying data and telemetry, Andrea Stella considered it one of the most remarkable laps he had seen.
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