Lando Norris snaps back at ‘questions I hate’ after Max Verstappen battle raised

Lando Norris took second place on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint at Interlagos, but wasn’t in the mood to discuss championship possibilities afterward.

The British driver is attempting to close down a 47-point lead on Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship and was beaten to the top spot in the final seconds of the session by McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris: I hate these questions

With Norris taking second place and Verstappen only managing fourth, the result is working in Norris’ favour for the start of Saturday’s 24-lap Sprint race, but the McLaren man wasn’t in jubilant form as he spoke to media straight after the session.

Asked by a reporter from F1 about the result and what it means to him in the context of the championship, Norris interrupted to say: “I don’t care.

“I hate these questions so much. I’m just gonna race, I don’t care about where he qualifies.”

With the reporter attempting again to get his thoughts on his result relative to Verstappen, Norris said: “For me, it’s just focused on my own job, and that’s it. It’s just it’s the same question every time.

“But it doesn’t matter. If he’s first, if he’s last, I’ll do the best I can.”

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Lando Norris: A pleasant surprise to be so quick

Having only had a single practice session to fettle the setup of the McLaren MCL38, due to the use of the Sprint format for the weekend in Sao Paulo, Norris said it had come as a surprise to both him and Piastri as to the extent of their advantage – the two drivers being quarter of a second clear of third-placed Charles Leclerc.

“Yeah, I think a big improvement comparing to where we were earlier today,” he said.

“We were struggling a lot, so a little bit surprised that we were so quick today, but a pleasant one, of course.”

The British driver admitted his final run in SQ3 was littered with mistakes, leading to him abandoning the lap and giving Piastri the chance to beat him.

“A good lap but I made so many mistakes in my final lap and just boxed but yeah, a good job as a team,” he said.

“Like I said, I wasn’t expecting it.

“So a pleasant surprise, and yeah, just got too many mistakes on my final lap. That’s all.”

With the Sprint race giving McLaren and Norris the chance to strengthen their positions in the championships, Norris said: “Tomorrow is a completely different day, so we’ll see. We definitely made some good steps forward. So good enough and happy with today, but we’ll see in the Sprint.”

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