Lando Norris found fortune favoring him during the qualifying round in Austin for the US Grand Prix. A crash involving George Russell in the final stages prevented other drivers from improving their times, just as Max Verstappen was on track to clock the fastest time.
“It was a great lap, I couldn’t have driven it any faster,” Norris said immediately after the qualifying round. “I gave it my all because we’ve been playing catch-up all weekend. We simply didn’t have the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari. I had to pull something out of the hat, and I managed to do that today.”
The McLaren driver expressed the thrill of pushing his car to the limit on the Circuit of the Americas. “This is one of those tracks where you feel, ‘That was damn fast.’ It gives you a good feeling and makes you smile. And if you finish fastest, it makes you smile even more.”
Luck on His Side
Norris admitted that it’s been a tough weekend for McLaren. After the sprint race, they reviewed everything and made quite a few adjustments, which improved their performance. “We might not have been the fastest today, as Carlos and Max just said they were going faster, so I had some luck, and that’s fine.”
However, he anticipates a challenging race tomorrow. With Max Verstappen beside him on the front row, it promises to be an exciting start. The Grand Prix begins tomorrow at 21.00 Dutch Time, which is 20.00 UTC.
