Norris: Without the mistake I would be two positions higher

Of the McLaren drivers, only Lando Norris made it to the qualifying final, while Daniel Ricciardo was prevented from doing so due to a technical problem, for which the team management apologized to the Australian.

Lando Norris (8th): “Actually, I’m happy with how the qualifying went. But it was very difficult, because here it is difficult to put together a good circle, and it is very easy to make a mistake.

And I was a bit disappointed with the mistake I made in the decisive attempt, because in the final I rode a circle worse than in the second session. But I made a small mistake, which cost me dearly. It’s a bit disappointing because otherwise I could have climbed a few positions higher. I think I lost a few tenths.

Still, I’m happy with the results of a tough day, as we have a good chance of earning points. The team has made good progress, if you remember where we were at the beginning of the weekend – we didn’t even think we would go to the final.

Overall, I rode well, despite the mistake at the end. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow, because we still don’t have a good idea of ​​what to expect in the race, if we have to do a lot of laps on one set of rubber. We also don’t know how the track condition will change during the Grand Prix, but from 8th position we can fight for points.”

Daniel Riccardo (14th): “In the first part of qualifying everything went well, there were no problems and I think we were able to make some improvements, I was quite comfortable behind the wheel. But then in the second session in the garage there was a problem, we couldn’t start the car right away, so we couldn’t get to the track at the right time for the second attempt.

In the end we managed, but the exit circle from the pits turned out not to be the best way, and it affected the whole attempt. Unfortunately, because of this we couldn’t go through to the final and the qualification ended for us. I hope the race gets better, but today we were a bit unlucky.

Andreas Seidli, team leader: “Qualifying is uneven, I think in Lando’s case we showed the maximum possible result. Unfortunately, there was a problem with Daniel’s car, which prevented us from starting the engine right away for the last attempt in the second session.

This forced us to run from the pits to the exit circle, which affected the whole attempt and didn’t allow us to get to the final of qualifying. For this we can only offer our apologies.

Now all our attention is on the upcoming race. It promises to be long and very hot. The track in Miami is quite challenging, promising both opportunity and danger in equal measure, so we are preparing for the first Miami Grand Prix to be an exciting scenario and generate a lot of interest.