Lando Norris 'Very Happy' With Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying Result As Championship Bid Strengthens

The McLaren star puts himself in an optimal position for tomorrow's race with a strong performance, while his championship rivals failed to deliver.

McLaren Racing

It has been a brilliant Saturday for Lando Norris so far, not only thanks to a victory in the sprint race followed by a strong qualifying, but also down to the faltering of championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.

Teammate Piastri was running third in Saturday's race before crashing out on Lap 7 thanks to water on the track, being the first of three drivers in quick succession to have an incident at Turn 3.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen's performance in the main race's qualifying ended in disaster, with the four-time champion finishing 16th and finding himself eliminated in Q1.

Norris 'not' looking forward to tomorrow's race despite securing pole position

Lando Norris has never won a title in F1, but is edging ever closer to claiming his first. | McLaren Racing

An awkward lock-up had Lando Norris sitting 10th for the opening minutes of Q3, but the Briton flipped a switch that saw him claim pole over the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Speaking post-quali, Norris was delighted with how things turned out:

"Very happy... tough out there with the conditions... slippery, inconsistent, but good fun. It's always a pleasure around this track. I felt good. I was under a bit of pressure because I locked up on my first lap. So a little bit more pressure than I would have liked but stayed calm and put it all together when it mattered. "

Kimi Antonelli is in seventh in the Drivers' Championship, but has looked more consistent over the past few races. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Norris noted that he is cautious of tomorrow's outcome, aware that victory is uncertain, and that Kimi Antonelli in particular, had impressive pace.

"I learned that they’re pretty quick and that Kimi pushes all the way until the very end."

Norris on Antonelli's pace in qualifying

He also made reference to making sure that the race around the Autôdromo Carlos Pace is a clean one, with incidents at the Singapore Grand Prix and United States Grand Prix souring the mood in the McLaren garage, with the crash between the two McLarens at Austin's sprint race particularly of note.

"In some ways looking forward to it, in some ways I’m not... it’s going to be a big challenge tomorrow. We have to see what the weather is going to do again. So far this weekend has been clean, so I’m hoping they [the rest of the grid] don’t ruin it."

Norris on his confidence for tomorrow

With only three races after this weekend, it is more crucial than ever for the top three in the championship battle to pick up as many points as they can, with Norris extending his lead over Piastri in the Drivers' Championship to 9 points after the Aussie's retirement, and Verstappen 39 points off of first.

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