McLaren driver Lando Norris highlighted the factors that contributed to the evolution in the team’s performance during the Formula 1 Chinese GP weekend. The Briton secured third place on the grid for the Sprint race in Shanghai, his best qualifying result of the season so far in any format.
After the session, Norris showed satisfaction with the car’s performance and the position achieved, highlighting that beating both Ferrari cars was a positive result.
“I’m happy with the result. I didn’t see exactly what I gained or lost, but P3 is the best we could get for now. Actually, I’m happy to have beaten both Ferraris today, because they looked very strong all day, so I’m satisfied,” he stated.
The Briton pointed out that the car’s adaptation to the Shanghai circuit and the track characteristics helped the team extract good performance, especially regarding the power unit’s operation.
“It’s a good position for tomorrow. Things were better this weekend because the track is much simpler from our point of view, especially on the power unit side, so everyone ends up being a bit more level. Still, we managed to extract a lot from the car at the end and it was all very tight, so a good lap put me in a good position,” he said.
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Norris also commented on the possibility of challenging the Mercedes cars at the start of the Sprint race. While acknowledging the German team’s traditional efficiency in this aspect, he does not rule out taking advantage of any opportunity.
“I don’t expect them to have bad starts, to be honest. For many years they have been one of the teams with the best starts. It’s an opportunity, for sure. I think they know what they did wrong last weekend in Melbourne and probably will be fine tomorrow. But you never know. It’s a good opportunity. It’s the easiest place to overtake us right at the start, so we’ll see what we can do,” the British driver concluded.
Norris was the highest-placed driver outside of Mercedes, which put George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the top two positions on the Sprint race grid. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, finished qualifying in fifth place, less than a tenth of a second behind the Briton.
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