Lando Norris delivers best lap 'ever' after McLaren fire at Spanish GP - ESPN

BARCELONA, Spain — McLaren went from evacuating its hospitality unit to celebrating pole position on Saturday courtesy on Lando Norris, who made it happen with what he described as the best lap of his life.

Norris pipped Red Bull's Max Verstappen to pole by just 0.02 seconds, his first since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.

Several hours earlier, one pair of Norris' race shoes had been lost in the confusion which followed a fire breaking out in its hospitality centre — one McLaren team member went to hospital as a precaution after the team and its guests had been successfully escorted outside.

Despite the drama, Norris said his preparations were unaffected.

«A bit of a scare for the whole team, never a nice thing,» Norris said in the post-qualifying press conference. «But just a bit more probably of a stressful day than I would have liked.

»I lost my shoes, and that was probably as bad as it got for me honestly. Just different, I've not been in my normal room, I've not been maybe able to relax and chill out as much as I normally do."

He added: «It's all been a little bit messy. I think I have one or two sets of everything, and I think they managed to get some stuff out. But some of it's probably not the best to use, or it smells pretty bad from the fire.

»Some things I got out, but like, I like to listen to music and stuff before, and Oscar [Piastri] complains a lot because my music is so loud pre-sessions. But I just didn't have that this time."

After the hospitality unit was cleared out and the fire was put out, McLaren's team and the guests of its hospitality unit were scattered around the paddock, with other teams chipping in to look after people.

«I've had a lot of offers from people, it's been great. A lot of the teams