McLarens “not fast enough” compared to Mercedes and Red Bull

Then seen as one of the favorites to take pole position, Lando Norris finally failed on the second row, in third place, behind George Russell and Max Verstappen during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. With the pace shown in the sprint race ending in a McLaren double with Oscar Piastri in the lead, another result was expected in qualifying for the main race.

“No, this is not the position we were hoping for after yesterday and today”Norris said during post-qualifying interviews. “But that's the most we could do, that's for sure. My lap was pretty good. We just weren't fast enough compared to the others. So I'm happy with my lap, happy to have gotten from it the maximum. I am not satisfied with the result.”

Despite the speed displayed by the two cars in front of him, Norris remains optimistic for the race given the minimal gaps which separated the first five in Q3: “Everyone saw how close it was throughout qualifying, so there's not much of a gap between us, which gives us hope that we can still move forward .”

“But there are some very fast cars behind us at the same time. We can't wait to be [à dimanche]. I think we showed good race pace today. I had the advantage of being in front and having clean air [pendant le sprint]which is a very good thing. I expect a tougher race tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri reiterates his teammate's words. Satisfied with his last attempt in qualifying, he simply wasn't fast enough to do better than fourth.

“I felt good, but I wasn’t fast enough”he declared. “I'm happy with the lap I did. I don't think there was much more to do. I wasn't fast enough to fight for pole. Personally, I'm pretty happy . But to be three tenths [du meilleur temps]it's a little disappointing.”

Although victory is in the sights for the two papaya orange drivers, the most important thing this weekend remains the constructors' championship, and to score as many points as possible against Ferrari, McLaren's first rival.

“I think if we can win the race it will be the best way to handle Ferrari, but we will see. I think it is a unique circuit”concluded the Australian. “Whatever your qualifying pace is, that's pretty much your race pace too, because of the nature of the track and how you can attack. I expect Russell to be fast. Max We'll see, but I think I'll be surprised if he's not fast tomorrow. We'll see.”

With Pablo Elizalde and Oleg Karpov