Not faster. Just better and smarter.
That was Lando Norris's explanation for how he put to bed his recent Formula 1 qualifying demons to secure a crucial pole position at Monaco - his first since the season opener in Australia two months ago.
Norris has been openly self-critical of a run of qualifying errors that have compounded struggles he has had getting comfortable with his car when on the limit, so many expected him to remain on the back foot until some modifications arrived to the MCL39.
And, as he suggested in Monaco on Thursday, those modifications were at the very best weeks, if not months, away.
So to turn things around so spectacularly on the streets of Monte Carlo was something that put him in a hugely different frame of mind to recent weeks where Saturdays, like the one after his Q3 error in Saudi Arabia, had been more about beating himself up.
"It means a lot, not just because it's been a while since I've been here, but, just because of how things have been, how things have gone over the last couple of months, in qualifying," he explained after beating Charles Leclerc to pole with a brilliant last-gasp effort.
"It means a lot to me, to my whole team, because we've been working a lot for another moment like this."
Asked by The Race about what had changed this weekend, especially on a track where confidence is so important, Norris explained: "It being Monaco and a very different layout, it’s a very different style of driving that's needed here.
"It's a lot more risk and commitment, rather than just an absolute kind of car balance in a way.
"And also things that I've been working on to improve, to do a better job. Again, never because I'm not at the pace, just more never putting it together come Q3.
"Today was probably the first time since Australia that I've really put it all together. It's not like I'm driving quicker, it's driving in a better way, in a smarter way. But there's been a lot of work that's gone on."
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella echoed Norris's perception that the key to pole was about keeping his pace consistent all the way through qualifying - rather than stumbling as he so often has in Q3.
"Certainly this weekend Lando has driven very, very well, very fast, very consistently," said Stella.
"And above all, he kept this speed, this consistency throughout Q3 which in some of the previous races was where we tended to lose some of the rhythm. The merit is entirely Lando's.
"If anything, there was no more relevant testing ground than Monte Carlo to actually check your speed and your consistency and even the capability of repeating your driving input so that you can put together laps. So really, hats off and shout out to Lando."
Stella said the step forward had been helped by some hard work behind the scenes between Norris and his engineers to identify the factors that have been hurting him.
"We tried as a team, as a group, together with the driver, to use the information that we had accrued over some of the last events in terms of when we are not able to find the last tenth of a second, exactly what is happening," he said.
"I think the engineers have done a very good job of identifying these opportunities, because I've said a couple of times already that we do have to do some work, from an engineering point of view, to improve the feelings that come from the car onto the driver.
"For the moment, this is what we have. So we needed to adapt."
But while enjoying the moment, Norris was equally aware that one swallow does not make a summer. And to call his Monaco pole a breakthrough performance - as it was put to him in the post-qualifying press conference - would depend on him maintaining this form.
"To classify it as a breakthrough, I think you also need consistency of results," he said.
"So I can look at it both ways: I can see easily the positive. It's a breakthrough that I just had a good Saturday, and for me it's at least a step in the right direction which I'm very, very happy about. But it's still one weekend.
"Consistency is a big part of it too, and I'll be happier if I know and I can get to that point where I'm confident in every session that I can perform like I did today, because I think my performance was at a very, very strong level.
"If we go into Barcelona [next weekend] and we go into Canada and the next few tracks and I can consistently perform at this level, then...that's my goal, so that's our goal because it's me and my team."
From Stella's perspective, there ws little doubt that this is not only a level that Norris can maintain - but that the ceiling is potentially higher still.
"I kind of have a sense that there is quite a lot more to be extracted," said Stella, after noting that Norris had not nailed the final Swimming Pool section on his pole lap so could have gone ever faster.
"So I take very positively this step forward. I am excited, and I look forward to the steps further that we will be able to do in the future."
