Copyright independent
Lando Norris has revealed he has removed his delta time on his dashboard during qualifying to fully focus on his lap and not be impacted by previous attempts. The McLaren driver produced a stunning lap on Saturday in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, taking pole by 0.262 seconds to Charles Leclerc in second and 0.588 seconds quicker than McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri. Starting from pole, Norris secured a dominant victory on Sunday to win by 30 seconds and take the lead in the F1 world championship. The Briton now has a one-point lead over Piastri ahead of the next race in Brazil. Most drivers refer to a delta time on their dashboard during qualifying sessions, in which they can compare in real time how their lap compares to previous efforts. Yet Norris detailed why he has opted to remove his delta time from his wheel dash. “I’ve not had it since Monaco [in May], I’ve never used the delta since in qualifying,” Norris said in Mexico. “I don’t know. Who knows if it would have helped me or made me worse? “I think the thing when I don’t have it [delta time] is I push no matter what – no matter how the start of the lap was, no matter how any corner was. “I guess it’s because you have no reference of the overall lap time, you just always try and maximise every corner to the maximum. Otherwise, sometimes I just stare at it too much and that’s never the best thing. “It’s just nice because normally when it goes well, it’s a pleasant surprise to see the lap time pop up when it’s as good as this one.” Norris has claimed four pole positions since the Monaco Grand Prix in May, with his other pole of the year coming at the season-opener in Australia. The Briton now has a slim advantage in the title race over Piastri, with four-time world champion Max Verstappen 36 points behind in third. "The last few [races] have been decent - this has easily been my best performance," Norris added. "But still a long way to go, so I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, keep trying to be consistent against some very quick guys around me. And, yeah, I think that'll be good. But it doesn't mean because I'm ahead or behind or whatever that I have to drive or do anything differently. So, just keep doing what I'm doing. “I'm not a believer in momentum in some ways. One great weekend really doesn't mean anything. Two, three or four in a row means something." The next race in Brazil is on 7-9 November.
