Lando Norris said he felt more emotional about capturing pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix than winning the race itself.
The McLaren driver ended a string of sub-par results in qualifying on Saturday by taking his second pole position since the championship began in Australia.
He faced criticism for his performances after falling behind Oscar Piastri in the championship contest as his team mate racked up four grand prix victories. However Norris’s win yesterday brought him within three points of Piastri at the top of the standings.
Norris said he wasn’t interested in the views of his critics and feels the weekend showed he has made an improvement in his performance.
“People can write what they want,” he said. “It’s not up to me. People have their own opinions, they can do all of those things. Thing is, none of them are true, 99% of the time. It’s all crap.
“I don’t mind what people write as long as I know the truth and my team know the truth, and that’s fine. I’ve been working hard over the last few months to get back to having that momentum that I had in Australia, that confidence. What I felt this weekend was a small step forward.”
However Norris said he needs to make more of the gains he found in Monaco. “That’s not it, it’s not like I’ve nailed it now and everything’s back. There are still things that I need to work on.
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“There are still things that as a team – them giving me the equipment, and I don’t mean just making a quicker car, because the car’s quick enough – but giving me the things I need from the car in order to excel and maximise results, and the differences from last year to this year. So, still things from both sides.”
While Norris’s race pace has generally been strong this year, he has been compromised by his starting position at times, notably at Jeddah where he crashed in qualifying. Before the weekend began, Norris admitted he was finding it difficult to understand why he was struggling in an area which had previously been a strength of his.
He said taking pole position in Monaco therefore meant more to him than winning the race. “I’m happier with yesterday’s result than I am today’s,” he said on Sunday evening.
“Today is incredible but I was more emotional yesterday than I was today. That’s how much yesterday meant to me, to get my groove back in qualifying, because it’s something I’ve had my whole life. It’s always been good, until this year.
“I’ve had to work hard to try and get it back. For no other reason apart from a couple of things that I’ve clearly struggled with and also just having tough competition. Having Oscar, Charles [Leclerc], Max [Verstappen], I’m against the best guys in the world. And if you’re not performing at the highest level, you’re not going to compete against them.
“No one knows the amount of work and effort that goes into things apart from me and my team. And that’s the only people who need to know what goes into everything and know the truth of everything. And that’s the way it will stay.”
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