It was yet another interesting qualifying session, as only 0.4 seconds separated pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton from his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was all the way down in P8. Amid this closely packed grid, there was a moment where the excitement reached its peak; Lando Norris clocked a lap time good enough to line up on the second row alongside Max Verstappen.

However, the excitement only lasted only for a while, as stewards deleted the Briton’s lap time for exceeding the track limits. Consequently, Norris had to settle for P7, behind his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.

Considering Norris missed out on such a golden opportunity, it is natural for a driver to contradict the stewards’ decision. However, in reality, the McLaren driver isn’t keen on taking it up against the stewards on the decision, as he blamed himself for “messing” up his final Q3 run.

What did Lando Norris say?

Following the bitter-sweet qualifying session, Norris revealed that the car “came alive” during the qualifying session, only to be halted by the track limits.

“Pretty disappointed, pretty annoyed with myself. It was a very good day until then. I think the team did an awesome job,” he said. “The car really came alive in quali, we made a lot of improvements on Friday. But the one lap that I don’t need to make a mistake on, I effed it all up.

“The thing people don’t realize is that it’s the same for everyone. At the end of the day, it’s my mistake, and I’ve messed it up.”

McLaren weren’t particularly favorites amongst the mid-field pack considering their poor pace during the practice sessions on Friday. However, since the third practice session early on Saturday, Norris has been looking feisty.

But will his strong run of form extend into Sunday’s race?

Norris Describes the adrenaline-induced final Q3 run

Norris reckoned that, from the outside, it will look pretty straightforward to race within the track limits. However, when inside the car amid the abundant pressure, the case is entirely different from how it sounds.

“From the outside, it looks a lot easy. You just stay within the lines,” Norris said. “When you’re in quali, when you’re in Q3 and you have an opportunity to be P2, P3, you know, score your best result in qualifying, you’re pushing. You’re going at such a high-speed corner, misjudging it by this amount is just… yeah.”

Overall, this is just the qualifying session and the main event is yet to come. So, amid the closely packed field, can Norris get his redemption by securing a podium at the Emilia Romagna GP? Only time will tell.