Norris plays down his chances in Qatar: 'Not expecting a step'
F1 News
Lando Norris plays down his chances to take victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, saying he and McLaren "were not expecting [to make] a step." The Brit will start Sunday's trade from P3 on the grid, but he is unsure if his papaya-coloured car will have the pace to challenge George Russell and Max Verstappen at the front of the grid.
Norris and McLaren started the Grand Prix weekend in Qatar with some fantastic pace, taking pole position in sprint qualifying and leading for the majority of the race before he gave the win to teammate Oscar Piastri after the Australian did the same to the Brit at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
However, come qualifying time for the Grand Prix, the McLaren could not find the pace needed to get onto the front row, with the Red Bull and the Mercedes finding some more speed as the weekend continues. When asked if McLaren would be able to find their way to the front of the grid again, Norris was not too sure.
Norris "hopes" there's some more pace for the Grand Prix
"I don't think we were expecting a step," said Norris after qualifying. "The car was already mint in FP1, and we couldn't really get anything out of it, so I think that's what we've done a lot of times this year. We're very good at just coming to the weekend and the car's quick from the off, we put it straight away in the sweet spot.
"I think what Red Bull and Max showed is that not every team can do that, and I think that's a strength for us. But they showed how much they struggled yesterday and how much just a few little tweaks to the car can make a difference to go from where he was yesterday to where he is today. I think we just got a lot out of it yesterday."
McLaren currently sit 24 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship, and a win could all but seal their first team title since 1998. But is that a possibility for Norris? "I hope we're way quicker than them tomorrow, so I don't expect anything special. I think the clean air that I had earlier today made us look probably a bit better than we were.
"I don't think we've necessarily been the quickest, to be honest, this weekend. I think Mercedes have, so expecting a tough battle, and excited to see what we can do. I would like to give the guys ahead a little battle tomorrow, and our target would be to try and win the race, but these two guys have probably got to make my life pretty tough tomorrow," Norris concluded.
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