This season’s Emilia Romagna GP managed to deliver one of the closest dry qualifying sessions in years, with just 0.4 seconds separating pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton from Valtteri Bottas in P8.

Amid such a nail-biting session, Lando Norris briefly stole the limelight from Hamilton and Sergio Perez, clocking an incredible lap to secure provisional P2.

Unfortunately, the Briton couldn’t hold on to it, as stewards noticed he exceeded the track limits during his final flying lap, ultimately scrapping off his lap time and pushing him down to P7. Unsurprisingly, Norris was quite upset with himself for failing to put in a perfect lap when it mattered.

What did Lando Norris say?

The McLaren driver took to social media to showcase his frustration and apologized to his team for messing up his final run during the session.

“How I feel right now. Inches away from P3. My mistake, I misjudged it and the time was deleted. Sorry to everyone at McLaren. I effed up. You deserved better today,” Norris wrote on Instagram.

McLaren looked quite uneasy on Friday, with both the drivers failing to make a mark in both the one-lap and the long-run pace. However, the team did a splendid job overnight to revive the Mercedes-powered car back alive for Saturday’s qualifying.

But yet again, it was Norris under the spotlight, while his new teammate, Daniel Ricciardo is still finding his way around the McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton responds to Norris’s unfortunate Q3 moment

The seven-time world champion couldn’t resist but give a strong response to his fellow countryman, Norris. Hamilton applauded the McLaren driver’s stunning Q3 lap despite getting deleted from the time chart.

“Nobody can knock you for giving it your all. Amazing lap, it’s great to see you and your team shine. Move on, let’s race,” Hamilton replied.

Meanwhile, Lewis’ former F1 team, McLaren noticed the interesting moment between the two drivers and shared it on Twitter.

“Respect. See you at the lights, Lewis Hamilton,” the team wrote.

As of now, McLaren are still a bit far off from Mercedes in terms of long-run pace. But the qualifying session in Imola proved that the team have made a giant step forward, and it could only be a matter of time before McLaren joins Red Bull and Mercedes for the championship battle.

Read More: Emilia Romagna GP: Leclerc Defends Lando Norris After Q3 Lap Time Deletion