Norris could have 'quite easily' fought for Belgian GP pole

Lando Norris believes he could have "quite easily" fought for pole on Saturday at Spa without his massive crash at the start of qualifying.

On Spa's wet track, Norris led the charge in the first two segments of qualifying but the McLaren driver was caught out by the precarious conditions at Eau Rouge/Raidillon on his first timed run up the hill.

Fortunately, the Briton escaped the high-speed wreck without any injuries, but his McLaren crew was left with a long working stint to repair the heavily damaged MCL35M.

A replacement chassis was not required which spares Norris a pitlane start on Sunday.

However, a new gearbox entails a five-spot grid drop which means the McLaren charger – who was classified tenth in qualifying despite not setting a time – will start his Belgian Grand Prix from P14, having gained one position on the grid thanks to Valtteri Bottas' own five-place grid penalty.

Ahead of his impact with the barriers in Q3, Norris had warned his team of the difficult conditions, but the confidence built up in the first two parts of the session encouraged him to press on.

"Everything was going extremely well," he said after being given the all-clear to race on Sunday.

Since the first lap in Q1 things were going perfectly, and the car was feeling hooked up, I felt confident with the car.

"I guess it was tricky going out in Q3 because even on the out lap, I was saying how wet it was and saying it should be stopped or something, because I was aquaplaning quite a bit.

"So it was just a difficult situation to be in: how much do you want to push, how much do you not? I think it's combination of pushing a bit too much for the weather at that point, aquaplaning a little bit in the middle of Eau Rouge, which obviously doesn't end too well, and ends up being the way it was in the end.

"Of course, I feel bad because things were going very well, the car was on fire, and Q1 and Q2 were extremely good. I think I could have quite easily fought for pole position.

"I've now given the team a lot of work to do and probably a very late night, but not a lot I can do now."

• Read also: Ricciardo supports Eau Rouge changes after Norris crash

After Friday's running, Lewis Hamilton suggested that a bump on a fresh patch of tarmac in the compression zone at Eau Rouge made for an uncomfortable passage through the bottom of the corner.

Norris suggested the bump may have contributed to unsettling his car but admitted that the crash was ultimately the result of a mistake.

"It definitely makes it a lot trickier, especially in those conditions, when it's that wet," Norris said.

"I think it was one of the first laps where it basically wasn't flat out. And it wasn't like I tried to do it flat out on my first attempt, I still lifted and whatever.

"But I think you get these tram lines from where people go, and as soon as you go at the speed I was going, a little bit offline, you just kind of hit all the standing water, and the wet tyres, with how much water was coming down, these bumps as well in the bottom of Raidillon going through Eau Rouge, it was too much for what I had to do.

"I think at the end of the day I guess my mistake, and my bad. But I didn't feel like I was taking too many risks at the same time. I think it was just the conditions were so tough.

"And from what I heard a lot of other drivers were complaining that it should get stopped at the same time. So yeah, of course, I was frustrated and annoyed, but we'll try and make up for it tomorrow."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter