Norris: We didn't quite have enough pace

Norris started qualifying in Silverstone as one of the favorites for pole position, facing competition from his teammate, Oscar Piastri, Ferrari, and Verstappen.

However, Ferrari's challenge failed as qualifying progressed, and while Verstappen was on the back foot at the start of Q3, neither Norris nor Piastri could improve as the reigning Formula 1 champion did and denied them both pole, with Piastri second fastest.

Norris insisted he was not upset with his qualifying and said in parc ferme: "I’m not going to be unhappy with third."

Later in McLaren's qualifying report, the Briton added: "It was a great Qualifying session. It's very fast around Silverstone, very enjoyable, and I'm not going to be unhappy with a third.

"We didn't quite have enough pace today, but still a good day," he pointed out. "It's tiny things here that put you ahead or behind. We saw yesterday how close it was going to be, with hundredths here and there.

"I think it's going to be fun tomorrow: not just us and Max—Ferrari are in it, George as well. We've got a very interesting British Grand Prix ahead—and I'm looking forward to it," Norris concluded.

As for McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, he commented: "That was an extremely tight Qualifying session, with two very close and competitive performances by Oscar and Lando, although not quite enough to take Pole.

"Ferrari have been strong all weekend, and Max and George pulled off an exceptional performance, especially in their last run. This has created a very compact top six, which creates some uncertainty for tomorrow.

"The team executed the sessions very well, putting together a good performance in tricky conditions with the ever-changing wind, and the engineers worked well to constantly tune the set up to find the optimum solution for Qualifying. Undoubtedly though, it remains very close.

"We'll be working hard overnight to put ourselves in the best condition possible for a strong result, but it should be an exciting race for the fans at Silverstone tomorrow," Stella concluded.