18/10/2025 00:52
Lando Norris believes he lost crucial time on his final flying lap
in F1 Sprint qualifying in the United States over bumps, which
explained his 0.071s defeat to Max Verstappen. Norris had set a
provisional pole time of 1:32.214 in SQ3 in Austin, but was usurped
by Verstappen at the death on a 1:32.143 effort - 0.071s faster
than the McLaren. Norris had, up until that point, topped the sole
practice session and SQ1 and SQ2 before the defeat to Verstappen,
who claimed a third straight Austin Sprint pole. Detailing the
defeat, Norris explained how a bumpy Sector 1 could have explained
the minor gap, but also how he was optimistic for the race, given
McLaren's strengths in looking after its tyres in hot conditions.
"We'd have loved to be on pole, but it is not a surprise for us to
be just a bit slower than a Red Bull lately," Norris explained.
"I'm pretty happy. I don't know how much I was off by, but there
were a couple of little things here and there that I could have
improved on, and then I just caught a few bumps a little bit wrong,
but that is the difficulty of this track. "If you ask most people,
are they confident through Sector 1 with the bumps, I'd probably
say no, but around here, you've just got to be happy with not being
comfortable, it is that kind of track. "The laps were pretty good,
I found good steps of time throughout, but it was easy to catch the
bump at the wrong angle, or take a bit too much throttle here or
there over the bumps - and you probably lose seven-hundredths, so
it is not the end of the world. "Our race pace is normally a bit
better; we've struggled the whole year with our qualifying pace,
especially when it is close, and it was close for the whole of
Friday. "So that's why I'm not surprised, but we have more hopes
for the races that we can get back ahead."
