Lando Norris feels the heat at the Portuguese GP after Imola podium | F1 | Sports

Last time, Lando Norris took a second podium in his Formula 1 career and continued his strong start into the 2021 season.

Now, in his third year at McLaren, the 21-year-old has impressed so far, surpassing his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the team and is currently in third place in the drivers’ championship in the third round in Portimao.

With a fourth place in Bahrain and a podium in the last time at the Emilia Romagna GP, he really showed skill and class on the track – and even held back Lewis Hamilton’s much faster Mercedes in the closing stages of the race at Imola.

After Norris admitted that he was simply too fast, he eventually had to give up his place in the battle for second place, but was able to hold his own comfortably in third place on the podium.

But with success, the pressure to perform increases at the highest level, and the Mclaren driver has shown that he can feel the heat.

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However, after Friday practice, Norris struggled with balance and said the team would have to work hard overnight on Saturday to have a chance of making it through Q3 in qualifying.

“There were a lot of people who made mistakes, including me. So it’s not easy to put it all together,” he said.

“They don’t have an obvious lap where the tires are good, they take two or three laps here. So yeah, it’s different and it’s difficult.

“The vehicle record may not be as good as it was over the last few weekends either. So we definitely have to work a bit to be sure of being in the top 10. And we’re not sure of being in the top 10, what is important to get into the third quarter.

“So it’s a little harder than expected and a little harder than we want. But yes, we have to try to make some improvements for qualifying overnight.”

Lewis Hamilton aims to achieve his 100th career pole position during qualifying in Portugal on Saturday afternoon, which starts at 3 p.m.