Lando Norris: Too bad everything ended with a fine

In Barcelona, ​​the upgraded McLaren car made it possible to fight for the qualifying final and Daniel Ricciardo succeeded, while Lando Norris was out of the top ten due to a penalty: his car went off the track in one corner.

Daniel Riccardo (9th): “I’m happy to have made it to the final of qualifying, although there was no guarantee that the car would allow it, because we weren’t fast enough this weekend. Overall there was no confidence, although of course we tried to get into the third session.

Since this was successful, we can say that the task is completed – for this it was necessary to add a few tenths, which is not so easy in such conditions, because today the asphalt is too hot.

Because of this, there were problems with the clutch, the level of which was constantly changing. At some points it was possible to find it, at some – not. As a result I will start from 9th position and from the clean side of the track – let’s hope this can become a favorable factor as well. So overall the day went well.

The race promises to be interesting, given factors such as rubber degradation and high physical exertion. Although the weather in Barcelona is warm, the humidity here is still lower than in Miami. Of course it’s warm in the cockpit, but it’s a little easier to bear, so after qualifying I don’t feel too tired. But we’ll see what condition I will be in after 66 laps of tomorrow’s race.”

Lando Norris (11th): “Today promised a lot, so it’s a shame everything ended like this. I don’t think in the history of racing in Barcelona anyone has been fined for exceeding the track limits in that corner. I must have been the first, which surprises me a bit.

I thought the car didn’t cross the line, but it turned out not to be. I think if you look at the on-board camera footage of my car, it looks like I’m still on the line, but on the videos the stewards have, I’ve crossed it. But no one has ever been fined for entering this location, and it’s all a bit odd.

My best lap time was cut, which is a shame because our car was able to handle a fast pace and we were able to climb a few positions higher. It’s hard to overtake in Barcelona so it’s going to be a tough race, but let’s hope I can get ahead of a few competitors and do well in the Spanish Grand Prix.”

James Key, technical director: “There is a lot of work this weekend as we have brought a whole host of technical innovations to this track. Yesterday was mainly dominated by testing the effectiveness and working with the settings, after which we worked until late into the night to analyze the collected information. In the third training session we were able to make progress – as expected, the car got up to speed and so far everything is going well, although we have to keep working with new products.

Qualification left mixed impressions. Daniel did a great job making it to the final and will start from 9th position. Lando was unlucky, his best lap in the second session was canceled as he was a bit off track, although the time stated allowed him to progress to the third session. As a result, he rolled back to 11th line, and yet he can still achieve a lot in the race.

We set up the car with more racing than qualifying in mind, so we hope we can make some progress.”