Lando Norris will line up third on Sunday’s Japanese GP grid after a performance in qualifying that delighted the Briton.
Many anticipated that Ferrari would take the fight to Red Bull at Suzuka, but in Saturday's shootout it was Norris who emerged as a surprise challenger to the dominant duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Building on his strong form in Australia where he finished third, Norris managed to outpace his Ferrari and Mercedes rivals to conclude Saturday’s top-ten shootout just 0.292s adrift from Verstappen, the session’s poleman.
“It’s always exciting,” said Norris when asked how enjoyable it was to challenge the frontrunners.
“You don’t get many chances, but we had a good car today. I could fight, I did some good laps, especially in Q3, so I’m very happy with today.
“It’s always enjoyable here in front of the fans. It’s a good one for us as McLaren, we had a good year last year, a good race last weekend, so it’s nice to still be here.”
Saturday’s productive efforts set up Norris for an equally constructive race on Sunday. But once again, the 24-year-old highlighted McLaren’s linear and consistent progress that is inching the Woking-based outfit closer to Red Bull with each passing race.
“We’ve had a good car all weekend,” he added. “We’re trying to catch up to these two Red Bulls, but they’re doing a good job, the whole team is doing a good job, so fair play to them.
“But we’re working hard and the hard work is paying off slowly, so we’ll keep pushing. But today is a good start to the weekend, tomorrow is the main job.”
Oscar Piastri’s solid run to P6 in qualifying represented a creditable result for the young Aussie who turned 23 on Saturday, although the performance was somewhat overshadowed by his McLaren teammate’s more impressive display.
However, Piastri reckoned that he gradually lost some momentum as the session unfolded.
“I think Q1 looked quite competitive and quite strong for myself, Q2 not quite as much, and then Q3 a similar kind of story,” he commented.
“I think I just lost a bit of rhythm in Q2 and never quite found it again. It’ll be interesting to see where I could have improved.”
While Norris is the better placed of team papaya’s drivers for race day, Piastri believes that his chances of securing a third career podium in F1 are real.
“Yeah, I think so. I think our race pace this year has been quite strong,” he said.
“Our car is clearly pretty competitive around here, but so are the cars around us. Strategy could be a big factor, the weather could be an interesting factor tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can do.”
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