Lando Norris aims to “hold on for dear life” after an unexpected third place result in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
In a topsy-turvy session with several big names struggling, Norris was a star performer to give McLaren their best grid slot since Monza last year.
And after admitting to “making too many mistakes” after practice, the Brit himself was as surprised as anyone to claim P3.
“I definitely wasn’t thinking at all to be in the top three today, but I’m very happy to be here,” he said. “I’m shocked to be here!
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“I think apart from maybe Bahrain this was our worst Friday of the season, we all sat down and were thinking it was going to be tough to get out of Q1.
“So to be sat here today, I think it’s quite a big surprise for all of us.
“I think the cooler conditions [today], things just started to come our way a little bit.”
With the track still damp in places after earlier rain, Norris likely benefitted from running slicks in similar conditions during final practice.
“I tend to always be one of the first to try these things for my own feeling and confidence. I tend to do it quite a bit,” he explained.
“I felt decent. I wouldn’t say we felt anywhere near this good, I really wasn’t that hopeful, but things just seemed to come together.
“I felt like other people struggled a bit more today than maybe us over-performing or being our true potential,” Norris suggested.
“We’ve not really changed the car that much, so there was nothing which was giving me a lot of confidence or any reasons we were going to be that good today.
“We’re still pretty poor in many areas, but high speed [circuits] has always been one of our strengths for years, and slow speed quite the opposite. So I think this layout has helped us – certainly benefitted us a bit more.”
But with McLaren still one of the slower teams on the grid currently, Norris knows he faces a mighty challenge to stay where he is on race day.
“It’s really just hold on for dear life,” he told Sky Sports later. “We didn’t expect to be so good today. If I made one little mistake, I was what? Four, five, six positions back almost.
“I’ll give myself some credit but at the same time that can easily turn around tomorrow in terms of extra race pace.
“Red Bull always takes a step forward come Sunday, Aston [Martin] is always incredible on Sunday race pace, but hopefully it’s just another surprise like today, and we’ll see.”
Norris also couldn’t resist a little dig at his former teammate and good friend Carlos Sainz, who finished just ahead in P2.
“It’s a home race for Carlos [Sainz] so I thought I’d give him a couple of tenths, you know!” he smiled.
