Lando Norris was satisfied to extend his lead in the F1 championship a hard-fought Sprint win at Interlagos – but the McLaren driver admitted that his road to the win was anything but a straightforward affair.
Despite leading from pole to flag, the Briton described his São Paulo success as a “sketchy” affair, calling on McLaren to “do some homework” before Saturday’s all-important qualifying session.
After a red flag lasting more than 25 minutes – triggered when Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri, Nico Hülkenberg and Franco Colapinto all spun off on a damp Turn 3 kerb – the McLaren man had to fend off relentless pressure from Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
“It was tough,” Norris admitted. “It makes the win look more rewarding when you have a race like this, especially with Kimi. He was certainly not making my life easy.
“It’s one of those where you have to push because you know the guy behind is going to try and push that little bit more.
“But it was sketchy. I had a couple of little lifts, but the wind was tricky, and the degradation on the tyres was difficult. Definitely not an easy race, but probably a race you always expect here in Brazil — a difficult one.”
Homework for McLaren
Norris’ win – his first Sprint triumph of the year – gave him eight vital points and stretched his title advantage over Piastri to nine. Yet the 25-year-old was under no illusions about the challenge McLaren faces to stay ahead of a rapidly improving Mercedes.
©McLaren
“The Mercedes was quick. Kimi kept me under pressure the whole race. I just expected us to be a little better, and we weren’t,” Norris explained. “I don’t know how much of that was down to the tyres, or just that they did a good job and they were quick today.
“We’ve got some homework to do before quali.”
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On the other side of the McLaren garage, Piastri owned up to what he described as a silly mistake, adding that his focus ahead of qualifying would be to put the mishap behind him.
“A silly mistake really, an unfortunate mistake, so that’s it,” he said.
"There's a lot more points on offer tomorrow, so the better job I can do in qualifying to get a good starting spot, the better it will be.”
Eyes on Grand Prix Pole
Looking ahead to the main qualifying session, Norris struck a balance between confidence and caution.
“I’m confident we can do that,” he said when asked about the fight for pole.
“I think our quali pace was good, but the wind has changed a lot, and the conditions are quite different. Today is different to yesterday. Tomorrow is going to be another day.
“But they [Mercedes] put us under pressure. Like they said, small gaps and you’ve got to do some perfect laps.”
After a “sketchy” sprint that tested both nerves and tyres, Norris left Interlagos’ Sprint paddock relieved, rewarded – and ready for McLaren’s next examination.
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