Norris: There was enough in it to get pole

McLaren continued to impress with their package again at the sharp end, Norris making the most of it on the day when his experience perhaps got the better of his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri. The Englishman will line up on row one alongside pole-winner Charles Leclerc.

Speaking in parc ferme after a hot and well-attended Qualy session, Norris said: "I'm happy. It's been a good day. Probably not expected, so a good bonus for the whole team. Didn't make as many mistakes as last week, which is a good thing.

"I think we had it today. There was enough in it to get pole. I know Charles said he made a few mistakes, but so did I. A bit of a shame. We had one opportunity and maybe missed it again but I'm happy nevertheless."

Later in the team report, Norris added: “I’m very happy with P2, the pace in the car has been great and I put in a good lap to get on the front row on Sunday. We’ve got another chance to score a good result and important points tomorrow, so we’ll turn our focus to that now and aim to go one better in the Sprint.”

The 23-year-old Englishman will make his 100th Grand Prix start when he lines up on the grid for the 44th United States GP on Sunday.

In the sister car, Piastri was hoping for more of Friday: “Not my best qualifying. The pace in the car was quite strong, I just didn’t get it together. We’ll try again [on Saturday]. The pace we have is pretty solid, so if we leave out the mistakes, we should be able to get a better result in the Sprint Shootout.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella summed up: “As usual here in Austin, we had tricky conditions. The track was hot, and the soft tyres are only good for one lap, so the drivers had one go at making their fast laps count. Add to that the challenge of track limits and the result is a very tricky session.

“Overall, we’re happy with the potential of the car, at a track which we expected to be less suitable than recent events. Lando secured a front row and did a great good job. He struggled a little to repeat the strong pace shown in Q1, but it came back when it counted in Q3.

"On Oscar’s side, lap time in Q3 moved away from him due to a large wheelspin event at the exit of Turn 11, which overheated the tyres and largely compromised the rest of his lap.

“We’re in a position to score good points on Sunday, which is our ultimate aim this weekend. We also have all the Sprint Saturday ahead of us, and a car with promising pace. We will take the learnings from today and aim to carry this momentum into Saturday," concluded Stella.

After a forgettable early season, McLaren has only been outscored by Red Bull in recent races but are only fifth in the 2023 F1 Constructors' standings after 17 Rounds.

However, they are upwardly mobile with Aston Martin, on a downswing in performance relative to their sparkling start of the season, only 11 points ahead of the Woking outfit.

In the 2023 F1 Drivers' standings, Norris is seventh on 136 points and nine points behind sixth-placed Leclerc, with Piastri in ninth on 83 points, with five rounds remaining, including today's Sprint Race at COTA and another scheduled for Sao Paulo. Belgium and Qatar held the previous two sprint format weekends.