Lando Norris after Imola: I’m surprised I guess to be here



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Lando Norris after Imola: I’m surprised I guess to be here

Lando Norris did not expect such a good result in Imola after finishing the race as 3rd “I’m surprised I guess to be here, but it feels amazing,” Norris said for motorsport “From where we were, what, three or four weeks ago in Bahrain, to be on a podium, I genuinely didn't think we would be on the podium all year after Bahrain.

So it’s quite a shock. “[It’s] maybe not surprising after the kind of progress we’ve made over the last month, but yeah, definitely not a podium, with how much quicker the Red Bulls and the Ferraris are.

“It's hard to ever imagine yourself on the podium, and a great result today would have been P5. But a few good things [happened] throughout this race, an amazing start to be ahead of the Ferraris, to stay out of the chaos which happened behind.

“I guess [it was] a lonely but a great race”. He is satisfied with his performance and the team has high expectations from him. "The Mercedes wasn't so bad this weekend,” Norris said. “I think we were a little quicker than them, probably throughout.

The Alfa Romeo was maybe quicker. “[It] doesn’t really matter, we beat two cars who are probably a second a lap quicker than us: one ended up in the wall and one ended up in the gravel. “So it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the third or fourth or fifth best car.

I think we just executed a great race from our side. The car was good, and I had good confidence and that's all I needed”.

Alonso on the race

Alonso was forced out in Imola as the car had problems after contact with Schumacher.

Alonso was not happy after all, especially since he believes he deserved much more. “I prefer to finish the season better than start it good and then finish it bad,” Alonso said after retiring from the race. “So if you want to choose one way, it is [to do it] the other way around and finish on a better performance.

“But at the same time, when you see the races on TV, and I've been seeing too many at the moment in the first four, and to have only two points in the championship while I should have maybe 25 or 30, that's painful”.

“I remember last year after Imola I had only one point and the season was a little bit rough at that point,” he said. “Then we ended up high in the championship and quite competitive. So let's see if this year we can do the same”.