Lando Norris has expressed that “risking it more” inspired him to produce his “best” ever lap in Formula 1 as he secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix.
Norris produced a storming attempt on his sole run in Q3 to go 0.031 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen, who had headed the times in the opening two segments.
Despite Verstappen then setting the fastest opening sector on his second run, George Russell’s crash at the penultimate corner brought a sudden end to proceedings.
McLaren even being in a position to challenge Red Bull emerged as a surprise amid the unanticipated struggles that the team had encountered earlier in the weekend.
But despite the improvements that McLaren made to its upgraded MCL38, Norris has revealed he was on the backfoot up until the lap that landed him a seventh pole.
Asked how good his single lap in Q3 was, Norris said: “It was, yeah, the best of probably my career I think. Yeah, it was just a very nice lap.
“I kind of set the bar too high because on my second lap I was like, ‘guys, I don’t think I’m gonna improve much here’. I got everything out of the car.
“We changed a good amount from the Sprint race into quali today now and definitely took a step forward but man, I was, we’re still struggling a lot.
“I knew I had to risk a little bit more and then give it that little extra and it just came together perfectly.
“But it was definitely not a lap I could have repeated, so I’m very happy because I really wasn’t expecting to be here today.”
Norris had to gamble to beat Verstappen
Norris has disclosed that he was aware that he needed to take more gambles through the high-speed sections at the Circuit of the Americas to even rival Verstappen.
Pressed on where he found the time to pip the Red Bull driver, Norris replied: “I mean, it was just, it was a bit everywhere honestly.
“But the high speed is a little bit, is where we struggle to touch comparing to the Red Bulls, especially, you know, Max has been extremely quick in the first sector and the high speed.
“So trying to limit that a little bit more was a good start and then just the braking, the final sector, from [Turn] 12 to 16, as soon as one part goes wrong it can all fall away quite quickly and again.
“Just hooked everything up probably the first time all weekend and probably the last.
“But yeah, it just came together perfectly. So it was a very, very good lap. I probably say quite confidently the best of my career.”
Norris holds concerns over race pace
Norris has admitted that he harbours concerns over the issues with the tyre degradation in the closing stages of the Sprint which ended up costing him second place.
Questioned on how worried he was about that recurring in the main race, Norris answered: “I mean, quite a big one. I don’t want to do it again. So we’ll see.
“I don’t think it was as bad as what it was. I think certain events led to such a thing.
“I think we improved the car quite a bit. We were definitely not contending anywhere close to pole yesterday and today we kind of did.
“I think we’re still a bit off, but we’re in a good position, you know.
“So I think actually our pace relative to Max over yesterday and today is a bit more similar.
“I probably expected the Ferraris and Mercedes to be a bit quicker today.
“But maybe they just got a bit more out of the car earlier on in the weekend and we’ve been able to just take a bigger step forward between the Sprint and now.
“So maybe we’ve caught up a bit, but it’s going to be a tough race. Ferrari were very quick in the race today with the degradation.
“Max is Max. I always said that Max is Max and they’re going to be fast. So I’m excited. I think it’s going to be a good battle and probably a good one to watch.”
READ MORE: Lando Norris steals F1 US GP pole position as George Russell crashes
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