It was a productive day for McLaren F1 team at the Italian Grand Prix, as both cars reached the final part of qualifying in round sixteen of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
McLaren scored a one-two finish at Monza last season and they will be hoping for a similar performance after their grid positions were boosted because of multiple penalties. Lando Norris qualified seventh and last year’s winner Daniel Ricciardo qualified eighth, but they will start higher up the grid due to earlier grid penalties for the likes of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lewis Hamilton.
Norris will be hoping for another podium to add to his career total, but that will be difficult with faster cars behind.
“Very happy with today. Very happy. I think it was the best we could have achieved. We were so close to being ahead of the Mercedes but to not be far behind is also a very good achievement. A few people have grid penalties tomorrow, so that gives us a better position.
“Hopefully we can take advantage of that, have a clean race and get some good points.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “Hopefully we have a fast race car”
Team-mate Ricciardo also qualified well, as he aims to end the season in good form and find a race seat ahead of the 2023 season.
The Australian driver was happy to be around the front of the grid for the first time since last year’s Italian Grand Prix, and as a fan favourite nearly everyone will be rooting for Ricciardo to do well on race day.
“I’m happy with Q3, happy to be up the pointy end again. It’s been a while, so I’m pleased with that. The Q3 lap was certainly a bit of a handful, just trying to get those last few tenths out of it.
“It still is tricky for me to feel the car on the limit and know what’s going to be around the corner – but I was happy with Q1 and Q2, I think I put in some good laps. We gain some spots on the starting grid due to penalties tomorrow.
“We’ve ended qualifying in a better place than where we’ve been this weekend, so I’m happy to put it together. I think we made some good changes, so hopefully we have a fast race car.”
