Antonio Felix da Costa admitted he was surprised to find himself on provisional pole position for the qualifying race at the 63rd running of the Macau Grand Prix on Thursday.
The Carlin racer made changes between free practice and qualifying and set the pace by 0.226 seconds from Callum Ilott, and immediately praised the team’s three other drivers – Lando Norris, Sergio Sette Câmara and Jake Hughes – for pushing him during the session.
“I was a little surprised really to get the pole position,” said Felix da Costa. “After free practice we made a few changes and with such a strong field we said that if we could get in the top five, that position would give us a really good place to work from.
“Obviously, I’m pleased because it’s much better to start from the front so if we can hold on to that then that’s what we need but there’s still a long way to go this weekend and we all know that anything can happen.
“I had three great team mates pushing me throughout the session and it’s fantastic for the team to have us all right up there after first qualifying. I still felt like I had a little more to give today but this gives me great confidence on my return to Macau.”
