Lando Norris was delighted after surprising himself with fifth on the grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver emerged from pretty much nowhere to put himself ahead of the Racing Points and only behind the equally impressive Charles Leclerc in the battle for fourth behind Mercedes and Max Verstappen.
“P5 was absolutely the best I could have hoped for,” Norris told Sky Sports post-session.
“It wasn’t looking too hopeful in Q1 or Q2, but Q3 I got it in a good rhythm. I made a few mistakes in the first part of qualifying and went off in Q1, did a little bit of damage, but I recovered well and got back in the rhythm.
“Fifth was better than I thought I could do. We’ve out-qualified a few quicker cars and that will make tomorrow more difficult.”
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Indeed, in addition to Norris possibly exceeding the potential of his McLaren, he also faces the tricky task of starting on the soft compound tyres, which were degrading fast in the heat of Friday.
“A bit depends on the weather, it’s meant to be colder tomorrow which will play into the favour of those starting on soft tyres and I’m the first soft runner,” he noted.
“It’s going to be about trying to maintain my position. It will be a fun race, exciting and it’s not the easiest track to overtake on so it will be difficult, but we’ll see what we can do.”
Teammate Carlos Sainz was seventh in the other McLaren but does believe he could have been battling with the Briton.
“I’m happier with the car this weekend,” the Spaniard told the official Formula 1 website. “We’ve improved the car’s balance and my feeling with the car in general.
“I put together some strong laps, just in Q3 I didn’t put a very good lap together, so that was a bit of a shame. But we are in a decent position for tomorrow.
“Track conditions should be similar to today, which should help us a bit, so we’ll see if we can put in a strong race.”
