Lando Norris: I lost three tenths in the first sector

McLaren drivers honestly admit they had problems in qualifying, and Lando Norris, for example, believes he could have risen to higher positions had he not made the mistakes in the final session.

Lando Norris (7th): “I made mistakes in Turn 1 and Turn 4, so my first sector was probably already three tenths worse than it should have been. If I could regain even one tenth, I would already be four positions higher. The atmosphere is therefore ambiguous, because as qualifying progressed, the car’s behavior got better and better, especially after the wind died down. The car seemed to come to life and driving it was quite comfortable.

But I didn’t qualify like I should have. If they had told me before the start of the weekend that we could show the second result, I would have been surprised, but today it was quite possible to fight for it – overall this is a positive moment for our team.

I was told it will be warmer tomorrow, but I wouldn’t like that. Because we had problems during testing, I haven’t been able to complete more than twelve or thirteen laps in a row. But we have already discovered a lot and I understood a lot during yesterday’s training, so our pace is good. We know from last year that our race pace is at a high level under very different conditions.”

Oscar Piastri (8th): “My first attempt in the qualifying final was not insignificant at all, but the second was not that bad in my opinion. To be honest, the day was not easy, because I was no longer as comfortable behind the wheel as yesterday, and the difficulties became much greater.

The first two sessions were very difficult, but in the last sessions it went much better, although I was still not completely satisfied. Now we need to find out the reasons why everything was like this. The positive is certainly that I showed the 8th result. At the same time we lost quite a bit to the opponents in front of us.

But Lando and I have already said that the circuit in Bahrain does not suit our car best, but we still showed a good result and we will see how everything develops further. In practice our pace over the long series of laps was good, but the main takeaway from qualifying is that the results are still very tight and even the leaders are not as fast as we feared. So I expect the power ratios to vary slightly from circuit to circuit.”