Lando Norris said a poor final run at the end of today’s qualifying session cost him pole position for the sprint race.
The McLaren driver was comfortably quickest in the first phase of qualifying and again in the second, both on the medium tyre compound. He then headed team mate Oscar Piastri after their first runs on soft tyres in the final phase of qualifying.
However Norris abandoned his final run after losing time in the middle sector of the lap, while Piastri improved his time and beat him to pole position by less than three-hundredths of a second.
Norris was pleased with the progress the team made compared to the practice session earlier in the day, but admitted he made a mess of his final run.
“I think it’s a big improvement comparing to where we were earlier today, we were struggling a lot,” Norris admitted. “A little bit [of a] surprise that we were so quick today, but a pleasant one, of course.
“It was a good lap. I made too many mistakes in my final lap and just boxed. But a good job as a team. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting it, so a pleasant surprise. I just made too many mistakes on my final lap, that’s all.”
McLaren appeared to have a substantial advantage over their rivals at times during the qualifying session. But Norris is unsure how well that will translate to tomorrow’s 24-lap race.
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“Tomorrow is a completely different day so we’ll see,” he said. “We definitely made some good steps forward. I’m happy with today, but we’ll see in the sprint tomorrow.”
The McLaren drivers used a different approach to many of their rivals in the final stage of qualifying, doing one run at the beginning of the session and another at the end. Piastri was pleased his tyres were good enough for two runs.
“My first lap didn’t feel amazing and I knew that there was a few places to improve,” he said. “The second lap was was good and the tyres hung on, so I’m very, very happy.”
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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