Norris: Bouncing back at Imola made F1 podium finish even “sweeter”

Norris invalidated his final qualifying lap at Imola after running slightly wide at Turn 9 - a lap that would have been good enough to have put him third on the grid ahead of Max Verstappen.

The 21-year-old bounced back on race day with an impressive drive up to second place, before being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps as the Mercedes driver recovered from his crash before the red flag stoppage.

Reflecting on his second career podium finish in F1, Norris said: “It was a very good weekend for myself. Probably even better in the difference from Saturday to Sunday and bouncing back as well. That made it a bit sweeter for myself and for the whole team.

“A lot of messages from many different people, from different categories, from different sports, from within F1, from family, friends, whatever. It is always nice to see those kinds of things and get those messages. It definitely gives you a little bit more motivation to try and do it again.”

Norris’ impressive start to the season leaves him third in the drivers’ championship.

Despite McLaren’s impressive turn of pace in winter testing, Norris admits he didn’t have any expectations going into the new season.

“I would not say that I really had that many expectations,” Norris added. I did not set any in a way, so I did not exceed or not meet them. It has not been like that so much; I don’t not know why. It is just the way I have treated it. I have taken it one race at a time to see how we go.

“I guess I have them, or not so much myself, but us as a team I guess I did not expect to have a P4, and a P3 in the first couple races. But I didn’t know what we were going to do, so it has been nice and rewarding. Hopefully we can keep it up and get more races like that.”

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo has enjoyed two solid points finishes in his first races with the team but he has struggled to match the pace of Norris.

The Australian is encouraged by Norris' performances and remains confident of getting on level terms in the coming races.

“The speed is there and the competitiveness in the car is there. So that is really encouraging. I’m excited to keep racing, keep going, and I know that the more weekends that we go through the more and more comfortable I will feel. I honestly want that asap, so I know it’ll naturally come over time, and will require a little bit of patience and persistence.

“But I’m excited, it was very encouraging.”