Norris qualified third for the Barcelona race behind pole-winner Max Verstappen and home hero Carlos Sainz – his best qualifying result of 2023 by four positions (his next best was seventh in Azerbaijan).
The Briton said afterwards the result left him “shocked” as he had thought “it was going to be tough to get out of Q1”, and outlined his belief that the Barcelona layout boosted McLaren as it features several high-speed corners when its MCL60 car performs well.
“We’re still pretty poor in many areas, but high speed has always been one of our strengths for years and low speed quite the opposite,” Norris explained in the post-qualifying press conference.
“So, I think this layout has helped us. It has benefited us a bit more.
“I think already [in] FP2 I was flat in Turn 3, flat in Turn 9, probably one of the few guys apart from Red Bul …