Lando Norris and his McLaren team were left “gutted” and ruing their late entry into the fray in Friday’s storm-hit qualifying as they missed out on a possible front-row start at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old Briton had looked like the fastest man on track before Q3 began, but ended up seventh on the grid and frustrated at missing out on a chance to claim his second pole position.
“It was great, honestly,” he said. “The car was amazing.
“Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole. So I’m pretty gutted for that to end the way we did. I don’t know how to feel about it.
“But obviously delivering the lap and putting it together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but we were easily quick enough. So, another disappointing Saturday, but not a lot we could have done.”
He pointed out that being late out into the session was costly for all the teams who were caught by the weather.
His McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri also suffered from the dramatic change in weather conditions and qualified 10th.
“I just lost a lot of grip,” he said. “I don’t know if it was already raining or what, but I was struggling a lot already on the lap, I think everyone was based on how slow the laps were in going out there.
“It’s a shame, the pace of the car was looking good, but we’ll try again tomorrow.”
