Damon Hill reacts to Lando Norris securing pole position for the F1 Austrian GP

Lando Norris dominantly secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix after outpacing Charles Leclerc by a half-second margin on Saturday, June 28. After the qualifying round at Red Bull Ring, 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill took to X (formerly Twitter) to share how the 25-year-old's achievement was a massive one at a track which is barely longer than a minute to lap.

The McLaren driver had started as the championship favorite at the 2025 season opener in Australia. However, in the following few race weekends, Oscar Piastri's consistency and Norris' mistakes at crucial race weekends led the latter to lose ground in the drivers' standings.

Though not much of the season has elapsed, Piastri has already mustered a 22-point lead over the Briton. Many experts deemed that Norris was losing out to the Aussie in the qualifying segment as his statistics in the early phase of the season portrayed that he often botched his qualifying runs in the final session(Q3).

With a week's break to get the Canadian GP antics out of his system, the senior McLaren driver returned to business as usual as he claimed a dominant pole position at Red Bull's backyard with a 0.521s gap to front row starter, Charles Leclerc. Sharing his thoughts on Norris' dominant lap, Hill wrote on X:

"Watching quali at my golf club. Lando can hardly keep the massive grin of hos face. As well be might. 0.5s around a 1:03.971s lap is MASSIVE!"

Lando Norris started alongside Max Verstappen on the front row last year, but the Dutchman qualified seventh for the 2025 edition of the race.

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Lando Norris opens up on claiming his maiden pole position at the Red Bull Ring

Lando Norris receiving the pole position award for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Austria - Source: Getty

With Lando Norris claiming the pole position for this year's race, it would be his first time starting at the forefront of the field, around the track where he secured his first podium in F1 (in 2020). With a grin on his face after claiming the pole position, the Briton was over the moon.

Reflecting on bagging in his 12th career pole position, Norris said in the post-qualifying interview:

"It was a good lap, that's for sure. It was just little bit by little bit, my Q3 run one was good but I knew there were some little places to improve. Very happy, a good day, a good weekend for me so hopefully I can keep it up. It is a long season. I savour this moment, it is pleasing for myself but it is a long race tomorrow."

On the other hand, his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, qualified third after his final qualifying run was hindered by a yellow flag caused by Pierre Gasly. This gives Norris some breathing space between him and his teammate as Leclerc split the papaya duo during the qualifying session.