Norris invalidated his final qualifying lap at Imola after going slightly far at Turn 9 – a lap that would have been good enough to put him in third place on the grid ahead of Max Verstappen.
The 21-year-old bounced back on race day with an impressive drive to second place before being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton on the final laps as the Mercedes driver recovered from his fall before the red flag failed.
As Norris considered his second career podium in F1, he said, “It’s been a very good weekend for me. Probably even better in the difference from Saturday to Sunday and also when bouncing back. That made it a little cuter for me and the whole team.
“Lots of messages from lots of different people, from different categories, from different sports, from F1, from family, friends, whatever. It’s always nice to see things like that and get this news. It definitely gives you a little more motivation to try again. “
Norris ‘impressive start to the season puts him in third place in the drivers’ championship.
Despite McLaren’s impressive pace in winter testing, Norris admitted he had no expectations for the new season.
“I wouldn’t say I really had that many expectations,” added Norris. I didn’t set any of them in any way, so I didn’t cross or hit them. It wasn’t so much like that; I do not know why. It’s exactly how I treated it. I did it one race at a time to see how we go.
On the subject of matching items
“I think I have them or not so much myself, but we as a team didn’t expect to have a P4 and a P3 in the first few races. But I didn’t know what we were going to do so it was nice and rewarding. Hopefully we can go on like this and do more races. “
Teammate Daniel Ricciardo scored two solid points in his first few races with the team but struggled to match Norris’ pace.
The Australian is encouraged by Norris’ performance and remains confident that he will be on par in the races to come.
On the subject of matching items
“The speed is there and the competitiveness in the car is there. That is really encouraging. I look forward to continuing to race, to keep going, and I know that the more weekends we go through, the more and more comfortable I will be. I honestly want this asap, so I know it will of course come over time and will take a little patience and perseverance.
“But I’m excited, it was very encouraging.”
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