Lando Norris believes Ferrari’s tempo on the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix will make difficult Carlos Sainz for victory troublesome for McLaren.
Sainz took pole place by practically 1 / 4 of a second from Max Verstappen, with Norris over three-tenths off Sainz in third place. With Ferrari having comfortably completed one-two within the final race in Austin, Norris is anticipating one other robust race in opposition to the Scuderia however insists he’s happy along with his high three beginning place regardless of exhibiting robust tempo earlier within the day.
“Truthfully I’m comparatively happy-ish, nonetheless to be P3,” Norris stated. “Not a terrific day [on Friday], I imply I missed clearly FP1 and the alternate tires. I felt like a bit on the again foot, however most likely not as a lot as what Max was. However I’ve not been that comfy in any respect.
“Discovered some good steps into qualifying, and clearly Q1 and Q2 had been superb, however I discovered the restrict in a short time. I used to be completely satisfied to seek out the restrict and issues had been good, however simply couldn’t progress from there.
“The automotive was too troublesome to drive in Q3, too troublesome to get particularly three-tenths out of it in comparison with Carlos. So proud of third. For a minute, it seemed prefer it might have been higher. I feel we completed the place we ought to be.
“I used to be on the restrict, I couldn’t go any faster. It’s extra that the others simply didn’t get probably the most out of it. Just about each nook, I used to be near locking up and making errors. I did that in my Q3 run one lap, however I had undoubtedly nowhere near three-tenths left within the automotive.
“So it was extra that they only went faster. I used to be on the restrict, I acquired every thing out of the automotive already in Q1 and Q2. Made us appear to be those to beat, however actually since FP1, Ferrari have been the fellows to beat, and Carlos is on high. Difficult to beat them.”
Norris felt he couldn’t match Sainz’s lap time even with an ideal qualifying effort, however admits there are query marks over future tempo given how efficiency can fluctuate between the highest groups.
“I imply the race tempo is at all times a tricky one to know. The previous couple of weekends, they’ve been extraordinarily fast and faster than us. So, I don’t have the boldness to say ‘Sure, we will simply beat them on tempo’, like [in qualifying], not on their degree, however [today] is one other day.
“If we will have an excellent begin, hopefully it’s thrilling all the way down to Flip 1. However Carlos goes to be quick, like he stated, he’s acquired nothing to lose, they usually’ve been quickest for the previous few weekends. We’ll strive our greatest, however I don’t assume we now have the tempo in comparison with them on the minute.”
