Lando Norris: What Max did cannot be done

McLaren drivers are not too happy with the qualifying results and admit they expected faster speeds but failed. Although Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo give different reasons, they try to explain why they couldn’t achieve more.

Lando Norris (10th): “It was a tough day, I wasn’t feeling very well behind the wheel and I’m a bit unwell. All this did not allow us to achieve the maximum possible result, although I was able to do a good lap in the second session.

At some points I was happy with what I got, but overall it was hard to get the pace right, and exactly when it was most needed. Especially in the closing session things didn’t go according to plan when I had to leave the track and onto the grass.

It’s pretty clear that Max was trying to stop me. There is no clear rule governing how to trade from the pits on the exit circle. But what he did is impossible. Everyone always tries to stay ahead of each other until the last corner (at the pit exit lap) and everyone agrees on that.

In my place, he probably would have done the exact same thing, but if I were in his place, I wouldn’t be wagging his tail. It doesn’t matter now though.

Tomorrow we will have to solve difficult tasks, and so far it is difficult to say in which scenario events will develop. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to take action, so we’ll try to move forward. Variable weather conditions would probably suit us best, but we’ll see what’s in store for everyone and we’ll do our best anyway.”

Daniel Riccardo (11th): “I don’t know exactly what happened, but of course I’m a bit upset. I mean, on the last try, I locked the brakes in the last chicane, but I wasn’t going fast enough anyway. I had to play about a tenth in that chicane to get through to the final session, so I decided to take the chance and see what happens.

But the feeling was strange, because the first lap went well in the first session and as the track usually improves, it is possible to reach higher speeds without much effort. But that didn’t happen today. If it turned out to be playing something in some parts of the circle, it only led to the rubber losing efficiency, and in other parts it slowed down.

Of course we are upset, because we expected to compete for a place in the top six, and at one point it seemed to me that this was a completely realistic plan. I am therefore very surprised that we did not make it to the final. The opponents managed to improve, but we didn’t.”