Norris gutted he “effed it all up” in Imola F1 qualifying

McLaren’s Lando Norris says he is “pretty disappointed and annoyed with myself” after losing his best Formula 1 qualifying result due to exceeding track limits at Imola.

Norris had showed some impressive speed throughout qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and briefly sat second in the Q3 timesheets before seeing his fastest lap time deleted for a track limits infringement at Turn 9.

It was a bitter blow for the Briton, who would have ended up third on the grid behind polesitter Lewis Hamilton and inbetween the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen without the error.

He will instead start the race seventh behind McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari at a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.

"Yeah, pretty disappointed, pretty annoyed with myself," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

"I think it was a very good day until then, the team did an awesome job. You know, the car really came alive in qualifying.

"We made a lot of improvements on Friday, but that one lap that I don't need to make a mistake on, I effed it all up.

"It's the same for everyone, so at the end of the day it's my mistake.”

Norris praised the progress McLaren has made over the weekend after appearing to struggle for pace relative to its midfield rivals on Friday.

"I'm really happy - not with my job I've done, but with the team,” he explained.

"I think we didn't start the weekend off well at all. We really struggled in the beginning, but we made a lot of improvements.

"And I think we kind of understood a little bit more how the car works and how it comes alive, and a better operating window.

"That's one of the things we had to learn from Bahrain, where we struggled. We changed it this weekend and we've done a better job, just I didn't."