Lando Norris Laments Errors In 'Pretty Bad' Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

Norris at one point looked in danger of being eliminated from qualifying in Q2 after a lock-up at the Rettifilo on his first lap saw him skip across the strip of gravel at the chicane, though he was able to claw back time on his second effort to make it through to the top-10 shootout.

He then went only seventh fastest after the first runs of Q3 after being sent out by McLaren at the head of the queue and without a circuit-critical slipstream help. His laptime, however, suggested that there was more amiss than just the lack of a tow.

With that tow forthcoming from Piastri on the final attempt, Norris momentarily jumped to pole only to be pipped by four-time champion Verstappen at the death.

Speaking in the FIA post-qualifying press conference, Norris said: "It was a pretty bad qualifying from my behalf. I think it was the best lap I did in quali by like six tenths or something. So impressive that I managed to improve so much – or probably impressive that I did such a bad job prior to that.

"I was hitting every kerb possible that I don’t want to hit and just locking up when I shouldn’t lock up. So just not quite in the rhythm.

"It’s not that I’ve not been in the rhythm this weekend. I’ve felt like I’ve done some reasonable laps so far this weekend and I felt like I had some good strengths here and there, but just couldn’t click back into it come quali, until the final lap.

"But that’s also the only lap that I need to do it, so I’m happy that I did it in the end."

Norris expecting "big challenge" from Verstappen

Even when McLaren has been defeated in qualifying by rivals this season, its superior tire management in races has often paid dividends and seen both Norris and Piastri scythe back to a dominant position.

While that is expected to be the case again at Monza, Red Bull's performance during long-run simulations in Friday practice suggests the Papayas are due more of a fight for victory this weekend.

“Our race on a Sunday is normally our strength,” explained Norris. “But to get past Max, I'm sure it's going to be a big challenge but we'll see. Their pace was also very strong. If you see the end of their stint, they're doing the same lap times as us.

“I don't expect any magical things, and we have some Ferraris behind who I'm sure will want to come through as quickly as possible. It's a long race. Many things can happen, and we'll see what we can do.”

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