Lando Norris took his maiden pole position at the Russian Grand Prix, but admitted it’s “probably the only place I wouldn’t want to be on pole” given the long run down to Turn 2.
The McLaren driver put in a sensational lap on a drying track to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to pole, but with a long straight before the first corner, the British racer will be at risk of losing position to those behind him.
“It’s just an awesome feeling altogether,” Norris said of the achievement. “I don’t know what to say. It’s obviously my first one in X amount of races, could be my only pole for a while, so feels amazing, especially in these conditions.
“It’s tricky, you have to put a lot of risk on the line and just try and see if it pays off and it did.
“An amazing feeling, my first pole, probably the only place I wouldn’t want to be on pole is here with the straight down to Turn 1/2, but I’m still very happy.”
Norris doesn’t expect to be able to convert his pole into victory given there’s some fast starting cars behind him, including the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
“Another race win for McLaren would be lovely,” added Norris. “But, I don’t expect it, I think Mercedes are a long way up the road on us, and Red Bull probably similar. I think we have decent pace, we saw yesterday the car’s in a good position.
“But it is a long run down to Turn 2, so have to look forward to that and prepare well. But either condition [wet or dry] we can score some good points tomorrow and have a good race as we’re in the best position possible.”
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