Norris encouraged by McLaren pace despite Mercedes front-row lockout

Lando Norris believes McLaren can draw encouragement from securing third place on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix, despite Mercedes locking out the front row. The British driver finished closer to the pole position time than anticipated, even though the team has not yet fully optimized its latest upgrade package.

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I was pretty happy, actually. My lap, the 12.7, I was reasonably happy with. I thought there was a little bit more in it, which I tried to get out on my second lap, but didn't really seem to be able to extract.

"I was pretty happy, actually," Norris stated. "My lap, the 12.7, I was reasonably happy with. I thought there was a little bit more in it, which I tried to get out on my second lap, but didn't really seem to be able to extract." He added that being so close to Mercedes was a positive sign, especially as they did not expect to outperform them in Montreal given the incomplete integration of their new components.

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The fact that we're not using some of our upgrades, I think we're very surprised to be this close. There are a lot of positives... there are still good things to come once we figure them out.

Team principal Andrea Stella echoed Norris's cautious optimism, highlighting "encouraging indications" that McLaren is gaining a better understanding of their upgrades. "Between the Sprint sessions and qualifying, we did some work to optimise the car from a set-up point of view and a tyre exploitation point of view, so this allowed us to make the car quicker," he explained.

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Between the Sprint sessions and qualifying, we did some work to optimise the car from a set-up point of view and a tyre exploitation point of view, so this allowed us to make the car quicker.

Stella also suggested that potential rain on Sunday could present an advantage for McLaren. "I do think that this is an advantage because there's uncertainty in relation to the behaviour of the power unit," he said. "In wet, it deviates even more from what you anticipate and from what you can simulate." This inherent variability in wet conditions, he believes, could play into McLaren's hands.

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I do think that this is an advantage because there's uncertainty in relation to the behaviour of the power unit. In wet, it deviates even more from what you anticipate and from what you can simulate.