Lando Norris has admitted he is “not expecting it to be easy” as he targets victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix despite taking a dominant pole position on Saturday.
The McLaren driver will start Sunday’s 71-lap race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from the very front having finished more than two-tenths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in Qualifying.
It marks Norris‘ first pole since the Belgian Grand Prix back in July having looked comfortable throughout the one-hour session.
“I’m happy to be back on pole, it’s actually been quite a long time. A good feeling,” he said after the session.
“The lap? I don’t know. It was one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened, it felt decent but when I crossed the line and saw 1m 15.5s, I was very pleasantly surprised.
“I’ve been feeling good all weekend, especially from today, FP3, Q1, Q2, Q3. I got a little bit nervous of the Ferraris in Q3 at the end but I pulled it out when it mattered and I’m happy because of that.”
Although Norris will start from the best position possible, the longest run of the season off the line to the first corner offers opportunities for those behind in the slipstream to get ahead into the braking zone.
“Not a lot,” said Norris when asked how much sleep he would lose thinking through the various possible scenarios at the start.
“I’ve not been sleeping well lately so maybe that’s the key to it all. I’ve had some good races here in the past, so I just focus on what I can control and that’s all I can do.”
Norris’ dominant Qualifying performance came in stark contract to the fortunes of his team mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, the Drivers’ Championship leader only able to qualify eighth which will turn into seventh on the grid with Carlos Sainz set to serve a grid penalty.
With Norris 14 points behind Piastri in the standings and only 26 ahead of Max Verstappen, who will start fifth, Sunday’s race offers the Briton a crucial chance to turn the tide in the title race.
“I’m here to win,” said Norris when asked if his title aspirations would alter his approach in the race.
“I’ll be looking forward, I know I’m going to have some quick guys behind me and it’s a long run down to Turn 1 and so forth.
“The race pace from the Ferraris is normally really strong so I’m expecting a battle, I’m not expecting it to be easy. Eyes forward and I’ll see how much I can win by.”
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