Norris: Nice to come back from Las Vegas

Lando Norris won the sprint qualifying on a very fast track in Qatar – this is his second performance of the season, and the first was quite a long time ago, exactly seven months ago in China.

Oscar Piastri, his McLaren teammate, also performed well and finished third.

Lando Norris (1st): “It wasn’t easy because the speeds are very high here. It feels like this is the fastest track of the year. The last sector will take some time!

Excellent qualifying, first of all because it’s nice to return from where we were in Las Vegas. I’m happy because I did a really good lap, although I made too many mistakes on the second attempt. But we went to Qatar expecting to fight for pole, and we won it, so today’s task is done.

The car’s performance was greatly affected by the strong winds, but overall conditions were much better than last season. Back then it was much more difficult in terms of physical activity.

Now I want to win the sprint. Of course every driver strives to be at the front in every session, but our task for tomorrow is a winning double. We want to earn maximum points for the Constructors’ Championship, that is exactly what our intentions are.

We understand that there will be a real battle tomorrow, Mercedes and Ferrari will go fast. I don’t expect it to be easy, but it will probably be very interesting for anyone watching. In short, I’m looking forward to everything that awaits us tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri (3rd): “I’m more or less satisfied with the result, although the lap I did wasn’t the best of my life, but in conditions like today we had quite a hard time.

At the beginning of the session I had some problems, but closer to the end I felt I had found the right rhythm, but the results were just very tight.

It’s a lot of fun to drive on this circuit, the grip is much better than last year, so it’s a pleasure to drive through the fast corners!”