Lando Norris ‘gutted’ as McLaren miss out on pole in Brazil

Lando Norris believes McLaren let a golden opportunity for pole position slip through its fingers in Brazil.

Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri had looked fast in practice and the first two segments of qualifying, but did not play a role in the fight for pole.

As weather conditions deteriorated midway through Q3, Norris was only able to place seventh, while Piastri ran wide into the final corner and failed to set a lap time.

Norris believed McLaren had the pace to challenge Max Verstappen for pole position under normal circumstances.

Asked how the car felt, Norris told Sky Sports: “It was incredible.

“Probably fast enough to be fastest today and on pole. So, pretty gutted.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to think about it. The car was incredible, it came to life a lot in qualifying, easily good enough to be the fastest, let’s say. Taking the lap and coming together in Q3, and everything, it’s a different job, quite quick.

“Disappointed, still disappointing [Friday]. There wasn’t much we could have done.”

Norris and Piastri have the chance to make amends on Saturday, dedicated to qualifying for a shortened sprint session where eight points are available for the top eight.

Norris, who said on Thursday he was not the biggest fan of the sprint format, laughed when asked about McLaren’s prospects on Saturday.

“Yeah… sure. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The car is good, I don’t know if it’s good in the wet, I don’t know if it’s going to be wet or dry tomorrow but in the dry we should be.” fast enough.”