There he is again, the self -critical lando norris. But this time the McLaren pilot in Formula 1 also has every reason. Because while teammates and World Cup leaders Oscar Piatri took the next pole position after his three victories in Imola, Norris had to be satisfied with fourth place behind Max Verstappen and George Russell.
And once again it was up to him: “The car is mega. It is on Pole and is the best car on the wayside. I just didn’t,” he quarrels.
In the end, he was missing 0.292 seconds, but what worries him: While the competition in the last Q3 run could grow again, he did not succeed again – again. Instead, he lacked more than six tenths of a second in the second attempt.
“My last round in qualifying is never good enough. Everyone is getting faster – I’m getting slower and just not good enough,” he shakes his head.
Norris puzzles
He made “many mistakes”. Team boss Andrea Stella: “At Lando, the loss of time was distributed over several curves, not only in one place. We know that Lando at the moment when it comes to getting the last tenth out of it is not yet the perfect feeling in the MCL39. We are working on that and I am sure that this will improve.”
But Norris also asks himself why this is so: “I honestly don’t know,” he puzzles. “I will not just blame the car – I am not. I felt good all weekend. Also in Q1 and Q2 the feeling was good. I had the feeling that it is still lap time. But when I try to get it out, it just doesn’t work.”
That changed compared to last year. “Last year this was my biggest … So qualifying was my biggest strength throughout the year. It just doesn’t work this year,” he says.
“We understand some of the reasons for this. Of course I am not happy – I want to fight for the poles. But at the moment it just doesn’t work the way it should. I work hard, the team too. They are difficult moments, but that’s the way it is at the moment.”
Norris relies on the strategy
This also means that it threatens to lose valuable soil again in the World Cup fight because main competitor Piatri starts again and has already written off Norris as “rather unlikely”.
“Overtaking is almost impossible here,” he knows. “But maybe we have a good chance with the strategy. I have to hope that the tires of others will reduce quickly. Maybe as a team, we can act better than the others. Then there may be opportunities for overcuts or undercuts against the boys in front of me.”
However, there are many question marks in this regard: “We have not yet made many Longruns. We haven’t used the hard tire yet. There are many open questions. But of course I will give everything to fight forward in the race.”
The greatest chance is at the start. But: “More than one place at the start is not easy here. It is very tight and I drive against people who risk a lot. The season is long – I have to weigh well,” he says.