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Lando Norris says that his result in qualifying was not a one-off display, as he made it into Q3 ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz.
Sainz dropped out of the session in Q1, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown saying that he was held up by Robert Kubica who was returning back to the pit lane after suffering a puncture.
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Norris admitted that he was "so nervous" throughout his maiden session, and says his aim was simply to progress out of the first stage of the qualfying session.
“I used three sets of softs in Q1, our aim was just to try and get into Q2. And that went pretty well. And then I did my Q2 lap and I got into Q3. And so I finished eighth in Q3."
Norris says that he got to Q3 on genuine pace, but knows that results such as what he achieved on Saturday will not come every weekend.
"I think it’s massive to see that it is possible to do it and we have in some ways moved forwards from last year," the 2018 Formula 2 runner-up said. "Not as much as we need to. I feel like I really maximised everything, not completely, but to an extent.
“I’ve got a long race ahead of me tomorrow. We do need to do a lot of work to maintain these Q3s. Today wasn’t a one-off but it’s not going to happen all the time so I need to make sure I treasure this.”
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C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replyRam Samartha
Posts: 1,172
When you take desperate measures to get into Q3 it usually means you won't keep your position in the race. We'll see...
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Norris was outstanding, but I'm not surprised. What surprised me was the pace of the McLaren. It looked like they were towards the back of the midfield most of the time
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Im not necessarily surprised, but I was concerned that he might be unprepared, and that the pressure McLaren is so famous for putting on their juniors would get to him, but that was a solid drive. I wonder if this could imply that McLaren is taking it to Renault.