Lando Norris says winning pole position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix will not be easy and he is less confident in his race pace compared to Mexico, despite teammate Oscar Piastri continuing to struggle.
McLaren expected to be strong in Brazil and early signs were promising as the drivers qualified for first and third place for the sprint, but pole sitter Norris had to withstand pressure from Kimi Antonelli to secure victory and Piastri crashed out. Norris, who took pole position again on Saturday afternoon, said the fact that he finished 10th in his first Q3 run showed how difficult the weekend had been so far.
“It was definitely more stressful than I expected, especially because it was so fast all weekend,” Norris said. “There was no need for that. I don’t really know how it happened. I took a quick look at the data between the two runs and I braked earlier with less pressure, but it still somehow locked up. So, yeah, it was a little weird. Maybe it was a little bit of wind or something.”
“Obviously there was a bit more pressure on the last lap and I could see the other guys improving, but not by much. It was difficult again because the track conditions, the wind and everything else made it difficult to get a good feeling. So, again, I was a little stressed out because I didn’t know if I was going up or down in the delta. But when I crossed the line and saw the laps, I was pretty happy, and I was even happier when I saw that nobody was going faster.”
Norris says ahead of the race that he is less confident than he was two weeks ago after his dominant performance in Mexico City, given how unpredictable the weekend at Interlagos has been so far.
“I think tomorrow’s race pace was the least (confident) I’ve ever been. I was certainly more confident in Mexico,” he said. “I think after this morning, with Mercedes’ pace and Kimi’s pace, my confidence level has definitely gone down. But we’re still fast. We still had that little advantage in qualifying and I really hope we can continue that into tomorrow’s race.”
“But the weather will change again. It should be colder and that might suit[Mercedes]better. And the wind should change too. So it’s difficult. It’s very different at every track. You feel different at one track than at the next, and things like that.
“But I feel like I’m doing a good job. I’m driving well. Before, early in the season, it was all about weaknesses. I feel like I probably still have weaknesses here and there. But I’ve reduced that. Now, instead of one-tenth, it’s two-hundredths. So if you can combine the good parts and get the ones that aren’t too bad, things go very well.”
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Although he was not the only one caught up in the sprint, the effects were most severe for Piastri. Kim Ilman/Getty Images
Norris heads into Sunday’s race with a nine-point lead over Piastri thanks to his sprint results, but Piastri, who started fourth, admitted he wasn’t too happy with how his car handled on Saturday.
“We went through everything and kind of evaluated what happened (with the crash). Once we get used to what happened, it’s just a matter of getting back into qualifying mode,” Piastri said. “It’s very different from a sprint race or a regular race, so focus on that.
“The qualifying session itself wasn’t easy. For some reason the soft tires didn’t work and it was a bit of a strange weekend. It’s quite strange to have almost zero improvement in lap times through Q1, Q2 and Q3.”
“I feel like things aren’t flowing as easily at the moment. I felt pretty confident in the car yesterday, but today felt a little tricky for everyone and we struggled to get the most out of the car.
“I think there were obviously some things to learn in Austin and Mexico. There were obviously some things that I wasn’t naturally used to, so I had to adapt to that. Things felt a lot more normal this weekend, certainly yesterday. I felt comfortable from the first lap of practice and the lap times were coming easily.”
“Today was a little tricky in terms of conditions and we were trying to get everything done, but I don’t think we had the same problems this weekend. I still have the belief that we can go out and win races and win the championship, but things are not coming as easily as I would like at the moment.”
