Norris makes mistake at Turn 17 but: 'Impossible to know if Max gets more out of his car than me'

00:03, 04 May

byNorberto Mujica

Lando Norris, yet again, failed to extract the most out of his car, as the Briton points out where he lost pole to Max Verstappen in Miami.

When asked if he could point to where he'd lost out on pole position for the Miami Grand Prix, Norris replied affirmatively. When asked if it had been at Turn 17, the Briton confirmed this much as being true.

"I just didn't quite put it together, but that's it," said Norris to media after qualifying. How encouraging is it for the McLaren driver to have had his best qualifying since Japan?

"Very. I'm very happy with the end result. Just a shame when you miss out on pole, you know, that's the frustrating bit. But I think I've been trying different things, I've been doing different things with the team to try and work a bit more in this area and things have been taking a step forward so I'm happy."

"Maybe not quite there yet but happy with the progress." On whether the Miami International Autodrome may yield better results for him than Suzuka did, the British driver is hopeful.

"Yeah I would say so. I mean, the DRS helps a lot around here with the overtaking. It's what you need. You also have some much bigger braking zones than you have in Suzuka. So I hope so."

"I hope that's the case and we can have a good race tomorrow. But, you know, I don't just expect competition from Max. Kimi's been quick all weekend and Oscar's behind as well, so I just expect a tough race from all accounts."

Impossible to know if Verstappen gets more out of the car than I do

It is clear that McLaren have the strongest overall package. So, Max Verstappen being on pole again, it can be interpreted as the Dutchman getting more out of his car than Norris does. When asked about this, Norris is adamant that is not the case.

"Impossible to know. You know what car he's got comparing to us. The advantage we have is two quick drivers and they don't. Or we have a car that's capable of allowing drivers to drive it quicker. But impossible to know. Impossible to actually know the difference between the two cars."