Lando Norris’ US GP message for Max Verstappen after ‘probably best of my career’ lap verdict

Lando Norris felt his pole lap in Austin was among the best of his career, but that the pace among the top cars is “closer than people think” heading into the race.

Norris claimed pole position over title rival Max Verstappen ahead of the United States Grand Prix by three-hundredths of a second on Saturday, with the session neutralised late on after George Russell crashed out at Turn 19.

Lando Norris puts US Grand Prix pole among ‘best of my career’

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Norris revealed there were setup changes on his McLaren between the earlier Sprint and qualifying that helped his cause, but added he was “still struggling a lot” on his best lap.

With the field set fair for a tight race, the Briton is looking forward to renewing his battle with Verstappen in the fight at the front, with the pair lining up together on the front row on Sunday.

“It was the best of probably my career, I think,” Norris told media including PlanetF1.com after qualifying. “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 going to improve much here’. I mean, 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 still struggling a lot.

“So I just knew I had to risk a little bit more and 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.

“I think we’re still a bit off, but we’re in a good position. I think actually our pace relative to Max over yesterday and today is probably 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. I mean, 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.”

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When asked more about his belief that McLaren had been off the pace relative to Red Bull this weekend, Norris explained that the team had not been the fastest car at every race in the past several months, despite the widely-held belief that the MCL38 appears to be the best all-rounder on the grid as it stands.

“People would probably hate me for saying it, but I don’t think… We’ve definitely had the best car for several races and quite a few races this year over the last two, three months, but definitely not every race,” Norris explained.

“Singapore was, I think we can say quite confidently, we were the best. Baku, just the race before that, even though Oscar [Piastri] won, I think he won because he drove better than the others, and I think Red Bull and Ferrari were both quicker once again.

“People might not agree with that – that’s our version of events. That’s what we think as a team. That’s what we believe. So if we just go back two races ago, we were not the quickest car.

“We were last time out in Singapore, and perceptions change because of certain things. When you’re in the team and you actually know where you stand, where you are relatively to other teams, I can confidently say these things and say where I believe we are and where we’re not.

“Sometimes I’m wrong, but even like today, my lap was very good. I could not have gone one-and-a-half tenths quicker or probably gone any quicker than the lap I did today, which shows we’re not as fast, but exactly knowing where we’re struggling a bit more is tough.

“There’s different reasons. A bit of the bottoming and the ride in the high speed, that’s where we struggle comparing to the Red Bulls, and comparing to the Ferraris, their slow speed is incredible.

“And I think even if we go back to Singapore, where we dominated, Ferrari were very quick the whole weekend until qualifying. They made some mistakes.

“I think the final stint, Charles [Leclerc] was the quickest car on the track on the hard tyre. So it’s just you need to know information before you can make certain comments, and I think it’s just been very close and closer than people think, even though we’ve dominated a few weekends.

“And this is one where we’re just not quite as quick and maybe the others have taken a couple of steps forward and it’s a little bit different. I don’t have any exact answer. I’m just driving the car. But this is my feeling and kind of our feeling as a team.”

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