'Should Have Been Pole Today' Says Norris After Finishing Second Behind Piastri

Saturday, 07 October 2023 at 15:21

Updated at Tuesday, 02 January 2024 at 20:31

McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris revealed his feelings right after the Sprint Shootout for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.

The McLaren team has done an amazing job of recovering from racing at the back of the grid at the beginning of the season to competing for the pole position at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. Both drivers have been competitive throughout both qualifying and sprint shootout.

The Friday qualifying did not go according to expectations when both Norris and Oscar Piastri fell victim to merciless lap deletions due to track limit infringements. On the other hand, the driver has learned the lesson from Friday and went on to lock out the front row for the Sprint race for the McLaren team.

After getting his times deleted on Friday, Norris had the pace for pole position on Saturday but went wide in the final corner, heading on to the main straight, which cost him the first place in the end. In the post-sprint shootout interview, Norris said:

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"Happy for the team, I'm happy for Oscar, but I did another bad job. Should have been pole yesterday, should have been pole today, but I'm not. It's just mistakes, not putting the lap together when I need to. Easily quick enough for pole, I just didn't put it together at all,"

Piastri has done an amazing job and continues to prove his driving skills during what is his first season in Formula One. The McLaren car seems to be performing very well, with both drivers putting quick laps on the board, which is not the case with multiple other teams like Aston Martin, for example.

"Oscar did a good job, Max has done a good job, so frustrating because the car is quick enough. The team is doing an excellent job, but I'm just not delivering on what I need to do."

Even though Norris says he is not delivering and takes the blame on himself, his performances were not bad at all, and he will get a chance to prove he has the pace during the sprint starting from the front row and during the race starting from the tenth place on the grid.