Lewis Hamilton had words for encouragement for a dejected Lando Norris after qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver looked on course to stun the world as he went purple in the first two sectors in Q3, before ultimately just coming up short of beating Hamilton’s provisional pole time.
However, moments later, Norris’ lap time, which would have been good enough for third, was deleted after he was seen fractionally off track at Piratella, demoting him down to P7.
“Pretty disappointed, pretty annoyed with myself,” Lando said on Sky Sports afterwards. “It was a very good day until then.
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“I think the team did an awesome job, the car really came alive in qualifying, we made a lot of improvements since Friday but that one lap I don’t need to make a mistake on, I ‘effed’ it all up.”
Norris was certainly far from the only driver to fall foul of track limits at Piratella on Saturday, but he what angered him the most was making the tiny error when it mattered most.
“The thing people don’t realise is it’s the same for everyone. At the end of the day, it’s my mistake and I’ve messed it up,” he added.
“From the outside, it looks a lot easier to stay within the lines than what it is inside. When you’re in Q3 and you have an opportunity to be P2, P3 or score your best result in qualifying, you’re pushing and when you’re going at such a speed in such a high-speed corner, misjudging by centimetres [is so frustrating].”
That being said, Norris still praised the work done by his McLaren crew to even be in a position of potentially claiming pole.
“I’m really happy, not with the job I’ve done, but with the team,” he said. “We didn’t start the weekend off well at all, we struggled in the beginning, but we made a lot of improvements.
“I think we understood a little bit more how the car works and how it comes alive, and a better operating window, and that’s one of the things we had to learn from Bahrain where we struggled, and we changed it this weekend and we’ve done a better job – just I didn’t.”
Later, Lando was still angry with himself on Instagram, but Hamilton replied with a message of optimism for the 21-year-old.
“Nobody can knock you for giving it your all. Amazing lap, it’s great to see you and the team shine. Move on, let’s race,” he posted.