Norris recovers quickly: 'I don't want to look like an idiot'
F1 News
The front of the grid was incredibly close together during qualifying. With such small differences, the drivers can increasingly make the difference. Still, according to Max Verstappen, and ultimately Lando Norris, the car remains a very important factor.
"Entirely the driver," Norris said in the press conference with a big smile on his face. Of course, the Briton could not say anything else now. After all, he had just captured pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, narrowly trailing Max Verstappen. Verstappen then gave a broader explanation of how things were.
"There are so many good drivers out there. Of course, naturally, I think sometimes you hit a better lap than other times, that's how it goes in life, but there are so many. I think if you look at it, there were so many great laps driven, but sometimes, for whatever reason, it might not click or come together. Some cars work a bit better on particular tracks, and again, it might also be completely different tomorrow."
Norris recovers after joke
"We have already seen a lot that there are cars that are better in qualifying and cars that are more comfortable in the race. That just goes to show that it is very complicated. Honestly, this sport in general to understand. The tyres are very crucial, and, of course, that's honestly the only part that touches the tarmac."
After Verstappen's lengthy explanation, Norris felt the buzz coming on. The latter was obviously joking with his statement that it is entirely up to the driver if performance is good, but wanted to make that clear too.
"You need a good car, I just don't want to sound like an idiot, he put that as the headline already," Norris laughed, as Verstappen looked at him laughing. "You need a good car under you, we've seen with Mercedes when they've not had a good car, I'm sure Lewis and George have driven some good laps, but sometimes you do your best laps and your fifth-tenths off."
"I think when you go back to Canada (in the rain), it's a bit more down to the driver. When it's so close together, a driver can just take out that last bit. So today it came a lot down to the driver and my lap was perfect. If I hadn't been perfect, I would have been second. However, I had a car where I was confident I could get it out. It's a combination, as Max said. It's just complicated, it's not as simple as you're saying, there are so many factors going on it's difficult to describe to you guys what it's like."
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy