Norris unpacks McLaren’s Canada revival after confidence scare

Lando Norris delivered a rather positive assessment of McLaren ’s performance in Sprint Qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix , despite the team finishing more than three tenths behind Mercedes on outright pace. The reigning world champion, who could only record a lap time quick enough for third place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, noted how particularly impressed he was with the result. Norris labelled it a good surprise, highlighting how the McLaren team had struggled to find its rhythm through much of its early running, before making some changes and modifications to the car, which translated into improved performance.

“No, a very good result actually. No, a good surprise. I think after this morning, we were a little bit worried, let’s say, about how far off we were and more just the lack of confidence in the car.

But we made some tweaks, we went, yeah, we changed some things and seemed to make a good improvement,” Norris said to the media after Canadian GP Sprint Qualifying. The 26-year-old continued by doubling down on how pleased he was with the third-place start he achieved ahead of the Sprint race, before noting how he felt there was still more time left on the table from his final lap. However, he was encouraged by how close the field was.

“So I’m happy with third. I mean, it wasn’t the best lap. I could have got more out of it.