Lando Norris confidently won qualifying for the sprint in Qatar on Friday, but posted the third fastest time in Saturday’s qualifying for the main race of the weekend. The McLaren driver said the result was not what he expected, but that his rivals were faster. His teammate Oscar Piastri qualified fourth.
Lando Norris (3rd): “Not the result we were hoping for after Friday and today’s sprint, but we did everything we could, that’s for sure.
I did a good lap, but not fast enough compared to the others. I’m happy with the lap and that I got the most out of the car, but I’m not happy with the result. Everyone saw how close the results were, and this gives hope that we can rise to the top in the race. But fast cars start around me.
We are looking ahead, because today we had a good pace in the sprint. In the sprint I had the advantage of the empty track in front of me and in tomorrow’s race I expect more difficulties, but we still have a good chance.
I don’t think we are as fast as Mercedes and Red Bull. They have improved significantly from Friday, so everyone gets a chance in the race.”
Oscar Piastri (4th): “I was a bit surprised that we couldn’t show a better result, because we had the impression that the car could set a good pace. But towards the end of the second session everything improved and in the final qualifying we couldn’t get much out of the car.
To be honest I was happy with the way I did the lap and thought I had a good time – I couldn’t have done better. I was satisfied with my work, but it turned out that our pace was a little too slow.
Anyway, in tomorrow’s race we will try to fight for victory if such an opportunity arises. But George Russell is showing very good pace today; We will see what Max Verstappen is capable of during tomorrow’s race – in any case, a lot depends on how the events develop.
Of course our first priority is to finish ahead of Ferrari, but if the opportunity arises to win the race and win the Constructors’ Championship, why not give it a try?
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
