Lando Norris has praised the progression his McLaren Formula 1 team has made during a “difficult” weekend as he qualified in third spot for the Canadian Grand Prix.
The opening two practice sessions were disrupted due to rain and Norris, who was slowest in FP2, had conceded he had no gauge about McLaren’s competitiveness.
However, McLaren’s MCL38 car came alive in the cooler and drier conditions that transpired as it locked out the second row with Norris third and Oscar Piastri fourth.
While he ended up 0.021s short from George Russell and Max Verstappen’s shared benchmark time, Norris expressed satisfaction with the lap he put together in Q3.
“I mean, I could be in Max’s position and not be on pole, but I’ve done a quick enough lap time, so I’m happy,” Norris said.
“Honestly, I’m happy with third. It’s so close. So to be this close with a lap I didn’t think was… It was good, but not incredible.
“And I know George said he didn’t get the most out of it, that kind of thing.
“Difficult conditions, difficult track layout and challenging, which is kind of what makes Montreal what it is and probably a bit harder this year than what it’s been in the past.
“But still rewarding to come out with a P3, even if we were only two hundredths off pole.”
Norris explained that the fluctuating track conditions that emanated from the changing weather provided another challenging element to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Asked how hard it has been to dial the car into the track across the weekend, Norris responded: “I mean, very, because like George said, again, every lap was different.
“We’ve not done many laps in the first place. So it’s tyres coming up to temperature, then dropping away, then graining, then the sun coming out.
“It’s been difficult just to be consistent and kind of get a nice flow. I don’t think it’s ever been really that circuit you can necessarily do that.
“But, yeah, difficult to kind of say pinpoint exactly what you want from the car because you want two different worlds of good ride, good kerbing.
“And also a car that’s kind of just performing at its best from an aero performance-wise. So, yeah, a challenge in all types of setting of the car and also from driving.
“But I think it’s what makes it fun around here and challenging and still as tough as it was to turn out so close.
“And I think from first to seventh or eighth was only two-tenths. It’s good to watch.”
The Briton is banking on the Woking-based squad tending to be stronger in race trim over one-lap conditions as he aims to battle Russell and Verstappen for the win.
Questioned on whether he was optimistic he could fight the cars ahead, Norris replied: “We’ve had great race pace the last few races. So I’m going to have to say yes.
“I think we’re in the fight. It’s so close.
“But, you know, George has been the favorite all weekend. So they’ve been very quick. Mercedes have been very quick. And George has done a great job coming into qualifying.
“So you would say on paper they look like they’re a bit more comfortable with where they are from the first run that they’ve been pretty much at the top of the time sheets and we necessarily haven’t. And we’ve kind of progressed through the weekend a little bit more.
“But Sunday is always a day we’ve performed very well, like I said, over the last couple of months.
“So if we can do the same again tomorrow, then I’m excited to see what race we can put on.”
