Lando Norris claims he would have secured a front-row starting berth for the Canadian Grand Prix if the red flag that was waved in Q3 happened “30 seconds later”.
McLaren took advantage of changeable conditions to advance both drivers through to the final stage of qualifying for the second consecutive race weekend.
However, Oscar Piastri crashed his MCL60 car midway through the third segment, resulting in a red flag period right as the conditions began to deteriorate.
With any further improvement to lap times not possible once the session resumed, Piastri’s incident consequently hampered his own team-mate, who reckons the lap he was on would have placed him second.
Nevertheless, Norris contends that the blame lies with him for not earning a first front row since he took his maiden pole position at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.
“There was a lot more I could have done, I could have done a good lap, that would have helped,” Norris, who will start Sunday’s race seventh, lamented.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have been P2 today, I guess, today after the first lap.
“I think only Magnussen and maybe one other person got two laps in at the end. But I just didn’t do a good enough first lap and if the red flag was 30 seconds later I would have been P2.
“Shoulda, would, coulda, I just didn’t do a good enough job at the end of the day in Q3.”
Norris starred in qualifying in Barcelona a fortnight ago to wound up third, but McLaren exited the Spanish Grand Prix weekend without adding to its points tally.
Despite contact on the opening lap immediately dropping the Briton outside the top 10, Norris expressed afterwards that the MCL60 currently lacks the race pace to compete for points on merit.
Looking ahead to the upcoming race, Norris has again cast a downbeat look on his chances of scoring points if dry conditions are in order at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“If it’s dry, not hopeful,” he assessed. “If it’s wet I’ll be a bit more hopeful.
“But if its wet conditions I feel like I would have been fifth, probably fifth quickest when you have two Red Bulls and two Ferraris ahead. But today one Red Bull and one Ferrari was out early so then you kind of think of it as third best.
“But yeah, these conditions were definitely a bit better,” he continued. “I wouldn’t say I have a lot of confidence in the conditions but we just relatively to the rest of them seem to do a slightly better job. So that’s what I’m hoping for tomorrow.”
McLaren team-mate Piastri will line up directly alongside Norris on the fourth row. But with the two Ferraris and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez likely to cut their way through from down the order, the Woking outfit’s chances of points appear in the balance.
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