Lando Norris said he felt extra satisfied taking pole position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix because conditions were not going well at the start of the qualifying session.
Qualifying began at 7:30 a.m. local time on Sunday due to the weather forecast and was postponed from Saturday afternoon, followed by an earlier race at 12:30 p.m. Norris won Saturday’s dry sprint, but in wet conditions he finished 15th in Q1 and was well off the pace before making great strides in the delayed session to take pole position from George Russell.
“There was a lot going on today, but I was very happy because we had a lot of trouble early on in qualifying, so we had a lot to do,” Norris said. “I ended up on pole because it wasn’t uncomfortable at all… We put in a lot of effort through the preliminaries, and although there were a lot of areas we needed to improve on, we did exactly that. So I was a little surprised again. I was a little surprised recently, and I was a little surprised when I got to the pole. But in the end, it felt good.”
Alex Albon was provisionally on the front row with Norris late in Q3, but suffered a heavy crash and was forced out of the race due to damage. The McLaren driver admits it was an additional aspect to consider as to how hard he could push.
“very [difficult]Probably more than what you see on TV sometimes. You’re always trying to find the next step, but seeing how many people drop out, it was easy to do something that could end badly, hit a wall, or keep you out of the race later today.
“So today the risk/reward was not easy. Especially where I was in the first quarter, it was very difficult to know, ‘How much further can I push?’ So I’m glad. “It’s because it’s a qualifying round that makes me feel relieved after going through something like this.”
Norris said he would not care how the race unfolds once it starts early this afternoon, despite Max Verstappen provisionally sitting 17th on the grid. Because he believes any driver can be a threat if they get wet.
“There are some fast guys behind me. George had a nice knee. Yuki [Tsunoda] Today I was flying wet all day. So it’s never easy in these situations. It’s not as much as just settling in and moving on. That’s what I want to do, but it’s not always the easiest thing to do. I will prepare well. I hope we can join the race. This would be a good start. And I’m excited to see what we can do.”
