Norris and Piastri disappointed for not securing pole position, the Japanese Grand Prix starts tomorrow at 7 AM Italian time.
McLaren was the strong favorite to take pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix, but thanks to a remarkable lap from Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ended up in second and third positions. Norris was just twelve thousandths of a second behind the leader, while the winner of the Chinese Grand Prix finished 44 thousandths off the top.
However, the two Papaya drivers are not overly disappointed and are already looking ahead to the race, as confirmed by Norris’s comments. Here’s what the Brit had to say after qualifying at Suzuka: “I’m happy. Congratulations to Max for the great job. Hats off, because when someone does something like that, it has to be recognized and congratulated. I’m happy though because I think I got the most out of the car, the margin is minimal. Maybe I could’ve improved a little, but Max did a super lap. We’re still happy to have been in the fight for pole. We did our best, but it wasn’t enough.”
Norris then added: “The mistake in the first attempt didn’t affect the second lap. I got a poor exit from Turn 7, and that’s the worst part of the track to make a mistake. I made small errors, but here that’s enough to lose a lot of time. The second lap, however, was very good, and probably, if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t be able to repeat it. Today we were on the limit, and we were just missing a bit. The goal is to win, but we don’t know what weather we’ll have. It could be a race similar to Australia, but it’ll be exciting, and we want to try to pass Max. He will fight hard, we know that. But I’m excited about this duel.”
Oscar Piastri, who had been aiming for pole after setting the fastest time in the first attempt of Q3, took third place. Here’s his thought: “I felt good in the car throughout qualifying. I did a good lap in the first attempt of Q3, but in the second one, I couldn’t quite put it all together as I wanted. The margins are incredibly tight, and tomorrow it’s all on the line. We have a great car, and we can win tomorrow. I think we have a good pace for tomorrow.
The others aren’t as far away as people think. It’s not a huge surprise today. Max did an incredible job, but we believe we have a very strong car for tomorrow, and we’ll be fighting for the win. I wouldn’t mind if it rained. This year, we’ve always been strong in all conditions.”
Photo: X McLaren F1 Team