Lando Norris downplayed the significance of his third-place position in FP2, insisting his lack of running in the afternoon session has not left him in the best position going forward.
A time-consuming power unit issue disrupted the McLaren driver's run plan in the second free practice. Norris got going in earnest in the final ten minutes of the session and only owed his impressive lap time to a low-fuel run on a nicely rubbered-in track.
©McLaren
"Not the best Friday just because of the lack of running," said the Briton.
"We didn’t really get the chance to do any high-fuel runs, so we’re not in the best position.
"We’re in good shape for tomorrow, but we’re still a bit behind in our prep for Sunday. So, we might have to compromise FP3 tomorrow to try to fit in some more high-fuel runs and catch up.
"I have a decent feeling for the car, but this is the track where you want good confidence throughout the lap – you want confidence under braking and in the high-speed corners, and I’m not quite as confident as I could be today due to the lack of laps."
Along with Lewis Hamilton, Norris was one of several drivers who complained about several of his rivals executing slow out laps on Friday, which in turn caused congestion out on the track.
The 20-year-old is expecting more of the same in qualifying.
"It's going to be tricky to make sure you're in the right spot, because you want a slipstream because it helps a lot around here, but at the same time, you don't want to be too close and have too much understeer or problems in the middle sector in the corners.
"It's not easy, especially in the F1 cars this year, it's even worse than last year, so we'll have to wait and find out."
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