Lando Norris was satisfied with the Sprint qualifying for the Canadian GP of Formula 1, even with McLaren being more than 0.3s behind Mercedes in pure pace. The Brit secured third place on the grid and described the result as a “good surprise” after a difficult start to the weekend in Montreal.
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According to the competitor, the papaya team faced difficulties mainly in the single free practice, when there was a lack of confidence in the car. After some setup changes and adjustments, performance improved significantly at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which brought an important recovery in the following session.
“It was a very good result, actually. A good surprise. I think after this morning we were a bit worried about how far behind we were and, more than that, about the lack of confidence in the car. We made some changes and it seems we found a good improvement,” he said.
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Norris also highlighted that he believes he left time on the track in his decisive lap in Q3, but still valued the closeness to the leaders – the Brit did 1min13.280, just a few hundredths ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, while pole went to George Russell. “I’m happy with third place. It wasn’t my best lap, I could have extracted more. But when I saw the difference to the guys in front, it wasn’t that big,” he emphasized.
“We need more time to understand some things. Maybe I’ll use some of these components again at the next stage or in Barcelona,” he added.
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