Lando Norris downplayed the idea of having missed a great opportunity to advance in the fight for the championship with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, after brushing the wall at the end of Q3 on Saturday.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 31 points in the standings, crashed into the wall at Turn 4 during the final qualifying session.
This incident brought out a red flag and, with a light rain falling on the circuit, Norris was the first driver to go out on track to set a time at the end.
His comeback seemed promising until Turn 15, where his car grazed the TecPro barriers; the time he set only earned him seventh place at the end of the session.
Verstappen, who came out of the pits a little later than the McLaren driver, managed to get pole position with a clean lap. Piastri will start two positions behind Norris, in ninth place.Lando Norris saldrá séptimo en la parrilla, mientras que Oscar Piastri lo hará desde la novena posición.When asked if it was a missed opportunity, Norris replied: “No, because I did everything I could. In the difficult conditions, I went out first and in the end it was the wrong decision. If everyone else had had a yellow flag because someone went off the track behind me, they wouldn’t be asking me this question. Sometimes things go well here, sometimes they don’t.”
“We thought we made a better choice. I think it would have been if it hadn’t been drizzling, but it started drizzling again before the last exit. And then going out first is just the wrong thing to do.”
“So, something we’ll learn. But no, the opportunities are there every weekend to be on pole. I try to do it every weekend.”
“Today I had more difficulties because I didn’t make the best decision. But that’s something you see in retrospect, not something wrong at the time.”
Then he clarified: “I wanted to go out first, yes.”
This means that the fast McLaren drivers will have to fight their way through the pack if they want to have any chance of winning the race. Norris believes Verstappen will have an easy task on Sunday. “Great for you guys,” Norris joked about that prospect.
“I hope it’s a good show. I think we won’t have the pace to beat Max. I think he will be fast.”
“It’s been fast all weekend. They can easily win in Monza. They can easily win here again today, this weekend.”
“I am not sure about the victory, but we will try to get on the podium.”
