There McLaren is for now losing the challenge with the Ferrari, but we’re only in Austin qualifying. In the race it could be a completely different story, but certainly the Woking team believed they were ahead of the Reds. This was not the case: “on the field” the papaya car reached the fourth row, with Daniel Ricciardo who beat Lando Norris. The Australian will start for the seventh time this season in front of his team-mate, but will do so from sixth, as the five-place penalty pushed Valtteri Bottas back to ninth. Even from the words of Ricciardo and Norris it is clear how the challenge for third place among the constructors is very much felt in Woking.
Daniel Ricciardo (P6, 1: 33.808): “Both laps of Q3 were very close to Sainz’s. I was happy to start on the clean side of the grid, but then I remembered that Bottas had to serve his penalty, so I will start on the dirtier side. In terms of feeling with the car I was happier in Q1, then it became a little more complicated to be comfortable in the car. I don’t think the track improved much during the session, I was struggling more and more. The last attempt was good, considering that it was difficult to do a perfect lap in those conditions: I don’t think I could improve it by two tenths and – therefore – take Leclerc. Sainz was within reach, but Charles was not. Ferrari beat us, but with Sainz starting on the soft we hope to be able to recover in the race“.
Lando Norris (P7, 1: 33.887): “I am not too satisfied with the qualifying result, for two reasons. First of all, I think I could have gotten a better lap, and then we are behind both Ferraris. It is not the result we wanted, but we will try to make up for it in the race. Let’s start with the medium tire e one of the Ferraris is on the soft, maybe we can take advantage of it and finish in front of them. We will work on our strategy and make sure we are ready for any opportunity“.
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