Lando Norris gave short shrift to being asked about the F1 title situation with Max Verstappen after finishing ahead of his rival in São Paulo sprint qualifying.
Norris appeared poised to land top spot on the grid for Saturday's sprint after leading the way in SQ1 and SQ2 on the medium tyres, and posting the leading time after the first run on the soft rubber in SQ3.
The Briton, however, was pipped by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.029s to land a front-row lock-out at Interlagos in a car sporting a rear-wing specifically designed for the circuit.
Directly behind Norris will be Verstappen in his Red Bull from fourth on the grid in a car that, on pace so far, is not a match for the McLaren.
Asked to assess the championship battle after the sprint qualifying session, with Norris going into the one-third distance race trailing Verstappen by 47 points, he clearly became frustrated.
"I don't care," said Norris. "I hate this question so much. I'm just going to race. I don't care about where he qualifies.
"For me, I'll just focus on my job. It's the same question every time. If he's first, if he's last, I'll do the best I can."
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Norris 'made too many mistakes'
Norris does at least feel happy he has a car beneath him with which he can compete this weekend.
"It's a big improvement to where we were earlier in the day [in practice]," said Norris. "We were struggling a lot. A little bit surprised we were so quick but a pleasant one.
"A good lap [on the first run in SQ3] but then I made mistakes on my final lap and boxed.
"A good job as a team. As I said, I wasn't expecting it so a pleasant surprise. Just made too many mistakes on my final lap, that's all."
As to whether he can secure victories in the sprint and grand prix, he concluded: "Tomorrow is a completely different day. We'll see.
"We've definitely made some good steps forward. It [the car] is good enough, I'm happy with today, but we will see in the sprint tomorrow."
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