Lando Norris and his McLaren team were left “gutted” and ruing their late entry into the fray in Friday’s storm-hit qualifying as they missed out on a possible front-row start at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Race live from 4am AEDT!
The 23-year-old Briton had looked like the fastest man on track before Q3 began, but ended up seventh on the grid and frustrated at missing out on a chance to claim his second pole position.
RACE CENTRE: Brazilian Grand Prix live updates, timing and more
“It was great, honestly,” he said. “The car was amazing.
“Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole. So I’m pretty gutted for that to end the way we did. I don’t know how to feel about it.
“But obviously delivering the lap and putting it together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but we were easily quick enough. So, another disappointing Saturday, but not a lot we could have done.”
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He pointed out that being late out into the session was costly for all the teams who were caught by the weather.
His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri also suffered from the dramatic change in weather conditions and qualified 10th.
“I just lost a lot of grip,” he said. “I don’t know if it was already raining or what, but I was struggling a lot already on the lap, I think everyone was based on how slow the laps were in going out there.
“It’s a shame, the pace of the car was looking good, but we’ll try again tomorrow.”
Norris went on to finish second in Saturday’s sprint.
‘F***!’ Ricciardo radio DRS frustration | 03:36
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo heads into the race optimistic about his chances in the AlphaTauri.
“Looking at how high the deg was today anything is possible,” he told Sky Sports after the sprint.
“We just need to strategise when to use our pace. I think there’ll be some hopefully slower cars. We’re not going to have a Ferrari probably in front of us on Lap 1 so maybe getting through some of the slower cars could be a little easier, I hope and then we’ll figure it out.
“If we get back inside the Top 10 it’ll be a good problem to have. I’ll do some homework tonight, see what we can do better and as experienced as I am, I am making little mistakes here and there and always learning.”
BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID
Front row Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari)
2nd row Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin)
3rd row Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)
4th row Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
5th row Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren)
6th row Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Haas) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas)
7th row Alex Albon (THA/Williams) Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine)
8th row Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine) Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri)
9th row Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/AlphaTauri) Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo)
10th row Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams) Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo)