Where Norris found tiny 0.084s Australia F1 pole margin over Piastri

A mere 0.084 seconds split Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in qualifying for Formula 1’s 2025 season opener in Australia, a minuscule stitch in time that converted the home fans’ raucous fervour into a palpable tinge of disappointment. Even Norris admitted to a fleeting feeling of internalised guilt that he’d denied the Australian spectators the chance to see their local hero clinch pole at Albert Park.

It truly was only a minor wrinkle in time that separated McLaren’s two charges, having barely ever strayed from a tenth of each other across the entire lap. Even in the same car, it’s amazing how two drivers can have their own individual styles and operate with very different inputs – and end up separated by barely the blink of an eye.

There are two defining features at play when you look at their laps as a whole: one, that Piastri often carries more speed into the corners, and two, that Norris’ more deliberate stance on the throttle suggests slightly more confidence with the rear end of the car.

Norris got a better exit on his warm-up lap from Turn 14, which allowed him to gather an extra 4km/h over Piastri into the braking zone for the opening corner. Inconsequential, you might think, given that this only gave the Briton an extra 0.025s over the lap, but it’s what he did next that conferred the early advantage over the course of the lap.

The two operated at almost exactly the same braking point, but Piastri’s later downshifts – and decision to take fourth gear – gave him a tiny bit more speed through that braking zone. But this came with a price; Norris, by comparison, was swifter with his gear changes and took the corner in fifth gear, slowing the car less in the cornering phase, which allowed him to pick up the throttle sooner with less torque to spin the wheels.

This allowed Piastri to take more speed into the corner, but Norris carried more velocity through it with the earlier application of the throttle. The Briton was almost a tenth up into Turn 3, although a momentary swing in delta again came through Piastri’s marginally later braking; but again, Norris’ more decisive application of the loud pedal ensured he could reinstate some of that advantage.

Norris did, however, lose half a tenth in Turn 4 to Piastri as the Australian took more speed through the corner, but his car was slightly less settled on the exit, and this forced him into employing a more delicate squeeze with the throttle. Norris, however, could use a burst of throttle to get the car out of its turning phase and jab it again to build the speed for the flat-out Turn 5.

It was in that run that Norris gathered a 0.105s advantage ahead of the complex Turn 6 braking zone, one that requires the drivers to drift left before straightening up and bolting on the brakes (all within a compressed moment in time) to open up the deceptively difficult corner and minimise any wide moments on the kerb-gravel tightrope.

Piastri was slightly better here, braking later and for a shorter amount of time to carry the speed through, but this was not quite matched by his throttle inputs; Norris’ earlier braking stance ceded a half-tenth of a second, but his (again) earlier throttle application did allow the delta to slowly creep up in his favour in the flowing Lakeside Drive portion of the circuit.

Where Norris’ pole time came under threat most, however, was in Turns 9 and 10. The Briton came off the throttle about 30-40 metres sooner than Piastri, and maybe braked between 5-10m sooner for the high-speed left-right section. This cost a tenth, their time difference having been such before the braking zone that Piastri was now tracking ahead.

Qualifying lap comparison between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Photo by: Jake Boxall-Legge

But if there’s anything that Norris had shown over the lap so far, it was that his corner exits were very slightly better; even in this instance where Piastri had genuinely gained time, the difference between the two continued to shrink on the straight down to Turn 11, particularly with Norris’ earlier application of DRS. He was about one hundredth of a second ahead before the braking zone for the 90-degree right-hander, although Piastri’s later braking and Norris’ second stab on the brakes again brought the two almost exactly level.

The final two corners – Turns 13 and 14 – acted as the swing states as the pole polls were equal. It largely came down to throttle inputs here; Norris found the time by giving it a bit more welly (or, as they say in this part of the southern hemisphere, ‘jandal’) and then a tiny frisson of extra lift to settle the car before taking full throttle for the straight.

That Norris was more proactive with the upshifts here helped to calm the engine revs and limit wheelspin, giving him the final boost of acceleration he needed on the start-finish straight to snatch pole from his team-mate.

“It’s a track where you’ve got to commit and know what your target is, and once you’ve turned in, you’re kind of hoping for the best in a lot of cases,” Norris reflected in the press conference. “In one way you want to take those risks. Obviously I took too many on my first lap and got track limits, so I was in a difficult position with knowing how much risk I want to take, but I put it together where there was just a clean lap, no mistake, and that was enough.”

These are the tiny margins that underline why Norris has become such a force in qualifying. For someone who once professed to be not very good on single-lap pace, Norris has perhaps been overly self-critical in the past – or, simply, someone who felt that there were tiny details worth polishing up to ensure his qualifying runs were successful and repeatable.

Qualifying lap comparison between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Photo by: Jake Boxall-Legge

In that, there’s also a lesson for Piastri; late braking might swing the delta towards him in the immediate term, but it might be hurting his corner exits. Norris kills the speed a smidgen earlier, which allows him to start climbing through the gears earlier on as he tacks on the throttle as soon as the car can handle it.

“There’s nothing I’m majorly kicking myself about; I just needed that a little bit more,” Piastri surmised – although he’ll see those subtle notes when he pores through the data.

The final margin might be tiny but, without the cautious approach to Turn 9-10, Norris’ pole time might have carried an extra tenth. Even pole times aren’t exactly perfect…