Lando Norris remained positive despite losing his place in Q3 by a “centimetre” during Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
The McLaren driver looked to have reached the top 10 shootout in Barcelona but would drop back to P11 when his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 12.
Although with teammate Daniel Ricciardo only managing P9 in Q3, Norris concedes his misfortunate didn’t cost him too dearly.
“P8, I would have said,” he said, suggesting what his best result could have been. “I think the Alfa Romeos are quite a bit quicker than us.
“I was in Q3 anyway by a good two and a half tenths or so. I didn’t gain anywhere near that with the track that I used, the centimetre I used, so P8 maybe, which on a track like Barcelona you would take every day.”
Frustration for McLaren as Lando Norris’s lap time gets deleted at the end of Q2 ?#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/r4Z8Sevlwo
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022
Now Norris faces a tricky Sunday trying to make up those lost places, but with tyre wear set to play a crucial role, he does see a chance to move forward.
“It’s so difficult to overtake, we’re not very fast on the straights. So it’s not going to be easy to get back past many people, so we’ll see,” he said. “It’s a new opportunity, good strategies for tomorrow so we’ll see what we can do.”
Though Aston Martin’s upgrades have been in the spotlight, it was actually McLaren who came to Barcelona with the most new parts.
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And while it hasn’t translated into a more competitive car yet, Norris does feel an improvement versus Miami.
“I think so, I think we’ve understood it more and more,” he said.
“I think I would still say we’ve taken steps forward. I think we maybe would have been one second off pole, which is still a lot, but I think it’s a step forward from where we have been.
“So I think there’s a lot of positives, [the] team have done a good job. So to bring the upgrades, especially for both cars, I think it’s helping, at least to get us both into Q3. Hopefully tomorrow we can help even more and can overtake some cars with a better car.”