“I wasn’t very confident”– Lando Norris after wining pole position in Russian Grand Prix qualifying

Tanish Chachra | 25/09/2021
"I wasn't very confident"– Lando Norris after wining pole position in Russian Grand Prix qualifying

“I wasn’t very confident”– Lando Norris opens about his qualifying experience in Russia after he snatches the pole position at the last moment.

After a spectacular performance in Monza, Lando Norris continues his impressive run in Russia as he bags his maiden pole position in qualifying.

Norris could not comprehend the magnitude of his performance as he snubbed the Mercedes duo from achieving their target since they intended to make the most out of Max Verstappen’s engine penalty.

“Oh boy, it feels amazing. I don’t know what to say,” Norris reflected after qualifying. It was quite a manic session, but it was going well and obviously, we made the decision, in the end, to go to slicks.”

“I don’t know, you never think you’re going to get a pole until you get it, and now I’ve managed to do it, so yeah, I’m thrilled. It was tricky, you know, because it was that crossover section [to slicks], He added on the track conditions.

“And the lap before I was like two seconds down, and I wasn’t very confident that we were going to improve on the previous lap. I kept the tyres warm and prepared the final lap.”

“I risked quite a bit, I’m going to admit, and it paid off, so I’m a happy boy!” he added. If McLaren’s pole was impressive, Carlos Sainz and George Russell finished in P2 and P3, respectively, giving an all unexpected qualifying top-3.

Didn’t expect this at all after Monza

McLaren had their perfect record in Monza, achieving P1 and 2, but Norris didn’t expect that their form would even extend going to Russia, but the weather conditions gave him a good opportunity.

“I guess coming off of Monza, it’s not something we really expected, but these kind of conditions are when we can take opportunities, and that’s exactly what we did today,” he commented.

“Especially after Monza, this is an awesome way to start, and hopefully we can continue it again tomorrow.”

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lando Norris McLaren

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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