Lando Norris believes he has the pace to fight Ferrari and Mercedes in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, but the McLaren driver is nevertheless cautious on his chances of landing on the podium at Marina Bay.
In a qualifying shootout void of the presence of Red Bull following the bulls' unexpected meltdown, the thrilling battle for pole was hard fought, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz coming out on top from Mercedes' George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
Norris clocked in fourth but just 0.286s adrift of Sainz, a result that very much satisfied the McLaren charger.
"To be two-tenths off pole was a very good result for us today," Norris said. "I know two-tenths doesn’t sound a lot but I did my best laps by quite a long way in Q3.
"It was tough, it was close – it’s not an easy track ever to push to the limit and try and find more time but we did that every time.
"To be P4, maybe some people expected more, but I’m very happy with it. We’re probably closer to the top than we thought, to be ahead of both Red Bulls was a bit of a surprise.
"A good day but turning it into some points tomorrow is the main thing."
Norris reckons his McLaren, which received a significant upgrade package in Singapore destined to improve the car's performance in slow-speed corners, has the pace to race Ferrari and Mercedes at Marina Bay.
But on a track that typically offers few overtaking opportunities and no margin for error, the Briton would be content with a top-four finish.
"I would just love to get some good points, I know everyone’s going to be saying podium but it’s a difficult track to overtake on," he said.
"With two Ferraris, who have been very strong all weekend, with Mercedes and George – who has also been strong all weekend – and Mercedes are always good on race pace too.
"I’m maybe not the most confident to say we can attack them but we have pace, clearly, to fight against them and stay where we are at least so that’s going to be the plan."
©McLaren
On the other side of the McLaren garage, Oscar Piastri suffered a disappointing qualifying debut at Marina Bay, but through no fault of his own as the Aussie's final flyer in Q1 was destroyed by Lance Stroll's massive crash at the final corner.
"It would have been a little bit tight, but I think there was enough to get through looking at the delta I had from the previous lap," he said.
"Just a shame obviously. I’m glad Lance is okay, but just a shame it happened right in front of me instead of right behind me."
Piastri will obviously have his work cut out for him in a race that he will start from P17.
"I did a few laps behind Logan [Sargeant] in FP2 and I couldn’t overtake him without the tyres overheating, and I think we’re in a quicker car than the Williams this weekend.
"So I’m not really liking our chances, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try."
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