Lando Norris felt he had the pace for a top five finish or even a podium at the Hockenheimring as the Carlin driver made his FIA European Formula 3 Championship debut last weekend.
With the British driver ineligible for points having exceeded the maximum number of test days allowed to compete in the championship, Norris was forced to start all three races from the pit lane, which left him well out of contention for a good result in any of the races, with sixteenth the best he could manage in the final two races.
Norris was forced to retire from race one after a clash with Pedro Piquet, but after setting competitive lap times during practice, qualifying and the races, he has high hopes moving forward, including the Macau Grand Prix in November.
“Well overall I think it was a very positive weekend,” admitted Norris. “Starting from pit lane never helps, but for my first race and weekend in F3 I think it was pretty good.
“We showed that the car is very competitive with our results, also earning first and second fastest laps in the final race is a good sign of speed that the team and I have. We proved the car is very fast and we can get some very good results with it. So looking forward to Macau.
“I had second fastest lap after my team-mate, also not having any sort of slipstream or anything, from start to finish my times were very competitive. So if there was a chance of starting on the actual grid, I know I would have been to able to achieve a top five, or even top three place.”