Lando Norris accepts P5 is “probably” his best possible finish on pace alone despite qualifying second for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver was once again one of the stars of Saturday, finishing just 0.048s behind the dominant Max Verstappen to claim his first front row start in Formula 1 at the Red Bull Ring.
And the joy on Norris’ face was obvious as he reacted post-session.
“I feel epic!” he declared in parc ferme. “I guess after [qualifying fourth] last race I wanted to do that one more step, and I did two more! So yeah it’s nice.
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“It puts us in a good position for tomorrow, it was probably one of my best laps I’ve done. It was a good feeling!
“I’m a bit gutted to miss out on pole, but I’m happy with P2,” he added.
“It’s tough because it’s so easy to just run that little bit wide and get your lap deleted and so on. It’s like risk versus reward and how much do you really risk? And I think I took the risk and I ended up where I did.”
Starting third a week ago, Norris held onto that place for 10 laps before dropping to P5, eventually finishing a lap behind race winner Verstappen.
And though the 21-year-old hopes to be closer, he admits a repeat may well be on the cards.
“Probably another P5,” he admitted on where he expects to finish on Sunday.
“We are where we are. Throughout this year we know we don’t have a good enough car compared to Red Bull or Mercedes in general.
“We’ll do our best to try to take a step forward and go in the right direction. It wasn’t like we were exactly close last weekend, and now we have that little bit more of a step.
“I don’t want to be too negative and I want to be optimistic, as I should be – but I’m also realistic and know that it’s going to be a very tough race.
“We’re in the best position possible to maximise everything, and if I have a chance to go for P1, if there’s a chance to race Max and go for it, then I will. I’m still doing that, I’m still racing. I still want to do the best I can.
“But I think I also know what’s best for us, what’s best for myself and the team and who we’re sadly really racing against in the race tomorrow.”
