The England men’s soccer team is notorious for losing penalty shootouts at major tournaments. But the Three Lions actually have a success rate of 36.36%.
That’s infinitely better than Lando Norris’ conversion rate when it comes to keeping the lead from pole position. He started at the sharp end five times in F1 and lost the lead every time.
What’s more, he’s always lost the lead to a different driver. Last time, in Hungary, it was to his team mate Oscar Piastri, and there were four other instances before then.
That means that the English soccer team are orders of magnitude more successful at winning penalty shootouts than Norris is at keeping the lead into turn one when starting from pole position.
On Sunday, the driver of car number four with have his fourth attempt at leading the field away at the start of a grand prix – and for the third time this season. Alongside him on the front row of the grid, looking to keep Norris’s losing streak intact, will be Max Verstappen. Not just the driver Norris is trying to chase down in the world championship over the final ten rounds of the season, but the one who the several thousand fans who flock to the Zandvoort circuit will be roaring in support of throughout the race.
While overtaking is possible at Zandvoort, it is by no means easy. The narrow nature of the circuit gives an advantage to the leading driver by limiting the places to pass with F1’s largest, heaviest cars. That means if Norris wants to start the second phase of the season in the best possible fashion, by taking his second victory of the year, holding onto the lead at the start for the first time will go a long way towards achieving that.
But Norris insists that he is not concerned by his conversion rate as he looks ahead to the grand prix.
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“I know my stats are not the best for that,” the pole winner said. “And more often than not, I’ve kind of gone backwards rather than holding positions. But that’s just what I’ve done so far. And I’ve worked hard and working hard to try and change that.
“I’m not going to go out tomorrow to try and suddenly prove people wrong or something. I’m just going to crack on and do what I got to do.”
Weather
Over the middle phase of the championship, the weather has played a recurring role in the narrative of many race weekends. It has been no different in Zandvoort, where two of…
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