Lando Norris has dismissed suggestions from dominant Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that they could struggle for pace in Sunday바카라s Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen took pole position to continue his run of locking out the first spot on the grid so far this season, while Perez was just 0.066 seconds slower to secure his place on the front row.
Norris emerged from a pack of cars all running very similar times to take the place as best of the rest for McLaren on another Saturday where it was Red Bull who shone.
Despite a 27th qualifying one-two for the Red Bull team, both drivers were quick to point out they are not as happy with their longer race pace.
Having run with their race set-up in the final practice session ahead of qualifying, Verstappen complained: 바카라So far, I haven바카라t been happy with my long runs. The pace wasn바카라t what I would have liked, so there바카라s a bit of a question mark going into tomorrow.
바카라Our race pace is still not too bad, but it바카라s not how I have been feeling in some of the races this year, last year, as comfortable, let바카라s say it like that.바카라
Perez, meanwhile, echoed the views of his team-mate: 바카라Let바카라s see what we are able to do tomorrow,바카라 he said.
바카라I don바카라t think we are looking great at the moment in our long run pace, but we바카라ve done some changes and hopefully that will translate into our race pace.바카라
However, Norris did not seem to buy the suggestions that Red Bull may have any sort of Sunday struggles.
바카라Obviously last year I was side by side with Max into turn one. So hopefully trying to redo that,바카라 he said of his plans for the race.
바카라But it바카라s tricky. They바카라re quick. They complained about their race pace, but I don바카라t think they바카라ve had a bad race in the last four or five years, so I think they바카라re going to be good tomorrow.
바카라Of course we바카라ve got a lot of pressure from behind so we have to keep an eye on the mirrors. But at the same time I want to go forward and I think we have pace to stay where we are, so that바카라s my goal.
바카라That will be our target for tomorrow. But I think realistically, we바카라re still too far away to challenge them. They바카라re too quick for us. Yes, we are quicker in qualifying, but in the race, normally, they always pull away a bit more.
바카라So, I think we바카라ll be realistic. I바카라m always realistic when I say it. So I think our competition is with the guys behind and at the same time, I바카라ll do my best to push forward.바카라
Carlos Sainz won in Australia last time out and will start Sunday바카라s race fourth for Ferrari, with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso fifth.
Oscar Piastri was sixth-fastest in the second McLaren, while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are down in seventh and ninth respectively 바카라 with Mercedes later fined 5,000 euros for an unsafe pit-lane release of Russell.
Charles Leclerc is sandwiched between the pair, with home favourite Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.
Tsunoda scraped into the final session, eliminating RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the end of Q2 to the roar of the Suzuka crowd.
Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon also failed to make it through and will start 12-15th, respectively.
Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu were knocked out in Q1.
