Steven Tee/Motorsport Images
Norris rues 'big spiral' after mistake ruins Miami sprint pole
An early mistake on his SQ3 lap saw Lando Norris’ hopes of pole position for the sprint disappear in what the McLaren driver called “a big spiral” at the Miami Grand Prix.
Norris is running a major upgrade on his car this weekend as McLaren has introduced a number of new parts, and was quickest by a comfortable margin in SQ2, raising hopes of being fastest in the session. However, a poor first sector in SQ3 and further mistakes on the soft tire saw him end up ninth on the grid, while his SQ2 time on medium tires would have proven good enough for pole as multiple drivers struggled.
“I just pushed too hard, simple as that,” Norris said. “The car was feeling very good. Just silly to be honest. Couple of mistakes in Turn 1 and just a big spiral from there. A shame, because the team has done a good job, the upgrades were working, so I’m happy with everything, just not with one thing.
“I hope [to move forward in the sprint]. I mean, the pace was very good, probably one of the quickest. So disappointed with today but I’ll do my best tomorrow.”
Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri only has around half of the new parts as McLaren opted against risking new mechanical components across both cars, and after securing sixth place he similarly was surprised by the difficulties faced in SQ3.
“I think it was just a really, really tricky session for everybody,” Piastri said. “I don’t know if the track changed a little bit or if we all just thought the soft was going to be a lot better, but my lap felt pretty terrible and it was P6. I think everyone must have just had a bad run. Lando did the quickest lap of the whole qualifying on a medium in SQ2, so a bit strange but I’ll take P6.”
Piastri says he has no worries about degradation in the sprint despite high temperatures in Miami, although he is expecting plenty of action on Saturday.
“It’s going to be tough for everybody I think, but the tires seem to be surviving OK; they’re just very hot. Not too concerned, but I think it could be an exciting sprint. We’ve got a few cars out of position. I feel like nobody’s really had much consistency, so it will be exciting tomorrow.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
Read Chris Medland's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.