Lando Norris proclaimed his pole-securing lap for the United States Grand Prix as "confidently the best of my career" - but only after being forced to take a risk. Norris delivered a sublime lap around the Circuit of the Americas in Austin to beat F1 title rival Max Verstappen by 0.031s, albeit he was aided by a crash late on involving Mercedes' George Russell that brought out the double-waved yellows when the second runs were under way. Verstappen had purpled the first sector in his Red Bull, and McLaren's Norris was two-tenths of a second slower when the session was effectively brought to a halt, handing Norris his seventh career pole and fourth in the last five races. It was a lap from nowhere as the Briton could only manage fourth quickest in sprint qualifying, was third in the sprint as he suffered front-tyre wear late one, and did not appear a threat for pole after Q1 and Q2. He was only 10th fastest in Q1, and third in Q2. Reflecting on his performance, Norris said: "It was the best of my career. It was just a very nice lap. I kind of set the bar too high because on my second lap, I was like, 'Guys, I don't think I'm going to improve much here'. "I got everything out of the car. We changed a good amount from the sprint race into quali and we definitely took a step forward, but man, I was still struggling a lot. "So I just knew I had to risk a little bit more and give it a little extra, and it just came together perfectly. But it was definitely not a lap I could have repeated, so I'm very happy because I really wasn't expecting to be here."
Norris offers modest explanation
The improvement in Norris' lap time from Q2 to Q3 was a staggering half a second. Verstappen only found two-tenths, whilst third-on-the-grid Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari improved by less than two-tenths. In terms of where he found the time compared to his rivals, Norris modestly said: "It was just a bit everywhere. "Of course, the high speed is where we struggled a touch compared to the Red Bulls especially. Max has been extremely quick in the first sector, and the high speed, so trying to limit that a little bit more was a good start. "And then just the braking in the final sector, from [Turns] 12 to 16. As soon as one part goes wrong, it can all fall away quite quickly. "And again, I just hooked everything up - probably the first time all weekend, and probably the last - but it just came together perfectly. So it was a very, very good lap. I can probably say quite confidently the best of my career."
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