The McLaren driver secured his first Sprint Shootout pole position after a less than pleasing Friday. Yesterday, in spite of the great speed showed, he hadn’t been able to fully capitalize on his potential in Q3 due to weather conditions hampering him on his only attempt before the red flag was issued due to the storms.
Norris was fast again during the early SQ1 and SQ2, where he had ended as second and first respectively, and the Brit managed to keep his good driving streak up in the final Qualifying segment on softs.
In spite of the consistent speed he has been showing for the whole weekend, he admitted he was “surprised” by the top starting spot secured for the Sprint Race later, as he was rather left unsatisfied by his lap. He had a big moment at turn 3 and lost a couple of tenths..
“Honestly, it felt like one of the worst laps I’ve done, so I’m a little bit surprised, but it’s a good surprise. I feel like we made up for yesterday. So yeah, good. My first pole in a long time, so I’m happy.”
The British driver, who had been on pole position for the first time at the 2021 Russian GP, is looking to win his first ever race in Formula 1, but warns that the championship winning team driver Mx Verstappen and Sergio Perez, starting right behind him, will be a serious contender for the eight points:“The pace has been good all weekend and the car has been very strong, so we’re on the right track, but it’s a tough one. The Red Bulls are always quick. Max is always quick. So it’s not going to be an easy race, but the pace is strong. So if we want to have any chance, I’ll give it my all.”
Photo credit: McLaren RacingDue to the Sprint Weekend format, which allows time for a single 60 minutes long practice session, there hadn’t been enough time for the Papaya team to test their long run pace. Norris, however, is still hopeful, also considering the good runs put in by the team in the past races, and will do his best to win the second Sprint Race of McLaren’s 2023 season, three races after his teammate Oscar Piastri’s dominant Qatar drive:“No one’s done any long running, or we haven’t any long running, so we’re a little with some questions to answer for today, and of course for tomorrow. But I’m confident we can have a good race.”Asked on where in particular he had been left disappointed by his pole position winning lap, the British driver in his fifth Formula 1 season explained that the first corners od the track appear to be the trickiest of them all for him, which will definitely have him even more worried about the race start:“I just messed up Turn 1, I think that was the only real thing, the rest of it didn’t feel amazing but not bad. Turn 1 and Turn 2 have been my nemesis corners all weekend. And I probably did my worst Turn 1 and Turn 2 today in Q3.”
