Lando Norris: I like these conditions

Lando Norris had a good qualifying at the Singapore circuit and showed the 6th result in difficult conditions. That cannot be said of Daniel Riccardo, he will have to start from a distant 17th position.

Lando Norris (6th): “Good qualifying, although it was very difficult. The track conditions were probably more difficult than in the previous phases of the season. Everything could end well, or quite the opposite, and the line separating one from the other was very thin.

I don’t think we were that fast today, but I just love these conditions and I always perform well in it – that’s how it was in Russia last year.

It seems to me that although I took risks, the degree of risk was chosen correctly, and this approach was justified. The 6th position is a higher result than we expected. It was difficult, but we were very happy with how everything went today.

In the race we start from a good position and we hope we can get a lot of points.”

Daniel Riccardo (17th): “Of course I’m disappointed that I was out of the fight in the first session, but to be honest it’s even more frustrating that the behavior of the car was not at all the same as it was in the last practice.

I understand the track was not that wet in qualifying, but when the conditions changed a bit we became a lot less competitive. It is very difficult to understand the reasons for this.

During practice I was quite comfortable behind the wheel, but even in the very first lap at the start of qualifying the feeling was better than at the end of the session when the track started to dry up. When the conditions started to improve, we couldn’t adapt to it.

Unfortunately, it cost us dearly. I didn’t make any obvious mistakes, but we just weren’t fast enough in the corners. Let’s see what awaits us tomorrow, what tactics we will choose and what the weather will be, after which we will act.

James Key, Technical Director: “Weather conditions in Singapore were challenging today. When the third practice started it was raining, so we couldn’t do a good job on track with the new aero kit installed on Lando’s McLaren, and we couldn’t improve the settings on Daniel’s car. But at least we were able to test how the MCL36 performs on rain and intermediate tires.

Qualifying was uneven. It was not easy to understand the weather conditions as it looked like the track was starting to dry out, but there were wet spots on the road and it was difficult to determine the right time to switch from medium rubber to slicks.

The team showed a very patient and disciplined approach, acting without haste and trying to assess the situation accurately. This allowed us to choose the right tires and Lando was able to show a good result in the qualifying final.

He drove a great lap and it was nice that the innovations we prepared for Singapore had a positive effect. Unfortunately Daniel was unable to get into the second session, this was due to the fact that it was difficult to get the tires to the desired temperature at the very beginning of qualifying. But he is able to move forward and I’m sure we’ll see how he fights tomorrow.”