“The story could have been very different”

It was amid rain and debris that Lando Norris took pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix, at the end of a qualifying session full of twists and turns.

After five red flags and almost two hours of qualifying, it was the McLaren driver who was the fastest. Not without difficulty, however, since the Briton came within just a few tenths of being eliminated in Q1 and showed a very poor pace in his MCL38, before waking up when passing the intermediate rubber.

This comeback at the end of the session must necessarily make this pole position a little more satisfying than the seven others recorded by Norris in his career. “100%”he declared in the conference after qualifying, about this pole which was a little sweeter than the others. “I mean, there’s so much more risk on a day like today.”

“Especially in Q1, I was miles off the pace, I was a second and a half behind Oscar. I didn’t know what was happening. I was quite worried at the start, it wasn’t looking good. well, so to be sitting on pole now… that’s one of the things that makes it more enjoyable.”

Asked about the nature of the problems encountered in Q1 and the solutions made to improve the car, Norris replied with a laugh: “I didn’t do it, it was [grâce au] pilot. The car was the same from start to finish, it was just confidence. Sometimes I didn’t brake enough, sometimes too much… I couldn’t feel comfortable with the car. I was one position, one tenth away from being eliminated in Q1. So the story could have been very different today.”

Norris explained that the problems encountered in Q1 had nothing to do with his car, but only with the fact that he “driving poorly”. The Briton particularly placed great emphasis on the very difficult conditions which marked qualifying, as evidenced by the numerous accidents which took place.

“I think where the grip was was pretty obvious from the start”he explained. “You know, that’s your job as a driver, to find the grip and exploit it. What was difficult was how easy it was to lock up the tires in turns 1 and 4.”

“It was so easy to skate. I think if I had just one skate, George would be on pole today. One skate easily costs you a tenth and a half or two. So I just looked for a best exit in all low speed corners, I stayed clean, and a clean lap got me pole today.”

“People don’t realize how quickly things can go wrong, whether it’s one or two mistakes, like what happened to Alex [Albon]to Fernando [Alonso]to Lance Stroll]. There are a lot of places where things could have gone wrong.”added Norris. “We paid the price for our mistakes today.”

“It’s complicated to know the risk versus reward ratio. It was very difficult to know if I should push as much as before because I want to take risks, because I want to be on pole, or if I Had to take it a little easier and get the car home in one piece, it always plays on your mind a little bit, but my approach was the right one.”