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Lando Norris wants only to focus on his racing as he attempts to re-establish his challenge for the Formula One world championship this season. The McLaren driver insists he has never been so confident in his own ability before this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, where he qualified in third place for Saturday’s sprint race and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took his debut F1 sprint pole.
The British driver opened the season strongly with a win in Australia and led the championship until the last round in Saudi Arabia when he was overtaken by his teammate Oscar Piastri, who has now won three of the opening five meetings.
Norris has admitted he is struggling to adapt to this year’s McLaren, particularly in qualifying, which has cost him dearly in recent races, not least the last round in Saudi Arabia where he crashed out in Q3.
The 25-year-old maintained that he has no psychological problems with his performance as the pressure on him intensified. “I got into racing because I like to drive the cars, or the go-karts, I like to work with my team,” he said in Miami. “The rest of it is noise to me because it’s not something that I ever wanted to do. It’s not something that I’m natural with. It’s not something that I enjoy doing. If I could have asked for a perfect world, it would just mean to turn up, drive and go home.”
He was also bullish about his title hopes despite Piastri now leading by 10 points. “My only need is to finish at the top at the end of the season. I don’t need to lead it at any other point,” Norris said. “I’m more confident than I ever have been. I’m more trusting in my own ability and my own speed. I’ve never felt so confident with my whole ability, with my speed and my knowledge of what I can go out and do.
“I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in terms of knowing what I can achieve. But of course the results have not turned into what I want for various reasons. There’s been some tough moments but now I still feel like I’m in the best place that I ever have been in terms of knowing what I can go out and do every weekend.”
In qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race in Miami, Max Verstappen – who arrived at the track on Friday when he confirmed he had become a father after his partner Kelly Piquet gave birth to a baby girl named Lily – set the early pace on his second run in Q3, taking the top spot only to be pipped by Antonelli, becoming the youngest driver to claim a pole position.
Piastri went close to him four-hundredths back in second, with Norris a tenth back in third but the Italian had delivered an immense lap for a deserved pole. Verstappen ended fourth with Mercedes’ George Russell in fifth and Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sixth and seventh for Ferrari.
The Miami race promoters also announced on Friday they had agreed an extension to their deal with F1 to host the meeting until 2041, a long-term commitment by both parties to the sport’s future in the US.
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Alex Albon was eighth for Williams, Isack Hadjar ninth for Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso was tenth for Aston Martin.
Nico Hülkenberg was 11th for Sauber, Esteban Ocon 12th for Haas, Pierre Gasly 13th for Alpine, Liam Lawson 14th for Racing Bulls and Carlos Sainz 15th for Williams.
Lance Stroll was 16th for Aston Martin, Jack Doohan 17th for Alpine, Yuki Tsunoda 18th for Red Bull, Gabriel Bortoleto 19th for Sauber and Ollie Bearman 20th for Haas.
