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How McLaren error almost cost Norris in qualifying

Lando Norris made it through to Q3 on Saturday to qualify eighth for the French Grand Prix. However a lack of fuel during Q2 almost proved disastrous.

Lando Norris will start the French Grand Prix from eighth spot, however the Briton's day almost came to an end earlier than expected after McLaren didn't put enough fuel in his car for his final run in Q2. The moment happened in the closing stages of the second session with the McLaren driver running in seventh spot. Despite being at risk of not making it through to Q3, Norris' race engineer Will Joseph told him to come into the pits and that they would explain the reason why after the session. “We had a problem with the fuel going into the car properly, so I didn’t have enough fuel which is an issue,” Norris told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. “I didn’t get my second run in but I did a good enough one that [it] didn’t cost us anything, but I was a bit lucky.” It made for some nervous moments for Norris as other drivers completed their laps in hopes of reaching Q3, but in the end he made it through to qualify in eight. “The track is obviously improving all the time,” Norris added. “I think the wind changed a bit at the end of Q2, so it caught me by surprise a little bit coming into Q3 which wasn’t the perfect scenario. “It just put us a little bit on the back foot. I’m surprised that I wasn’t a little bit further back when it all seemed to improve that much.” Ferrari will start Sunday's race fifth and seventh, but Norris is hoping the Italian outfit will struggle in terms of their race pace. "It's still not their strongest point," said Norris. "But they still have races every now and then which are very competitive. "Normally when they are half a second or more quicker than us is when we still can't get them in the race. When they are one, two or three tenths ahead, which they are now, we can have a good chance."

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