The session was not an entirely smooth one, given the continued threat of rain throughout, but Norris acknowledges that the challenges are part of the appeal of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
“That’s Montreal, that’s why we love it here,” he explained. “It’s one of the best places to come to every year. I love it. It’s why we’re all smiling, we’re having a good time.
“It’s tricky… A lot of the time you’re thinking you’re going to crash half of it, but when you put a nice lap in and you end up in the top three, it’s always a nice feeling.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the qualifying action in Canada as Russell grabs pole and Ferrari suffer shock double Q2 exit
Asked about the possibility of overtaking the two cars ahead come race day, Norris joked: “Yeah, two overtakes tomorrow! Easy, light work! No, I’m excited to see what we can do.
“The car has been great all season, especially the last three or four races we’ve been on a good roll, but two very fast drivers ahead, plenty of fast drivers behind, so we’ll put on a good show tomorrow.”
It was also a solid session for Oscar Piastri, who was less than one tenth adrift from team mate Norris in P4. Asked if he had felt that pole could be on the cards given the marginal gaps, the Australian responded: “Yeah, [there were] definitely a few places where I know there was time unfortunately.
“I think in those kinds of conditions everybody probably has the same – you look at George, going three tenths slower from Q2 to Q3, clearly it wasn’t very easy to get the lap together. [I’m] pretty happy with the position.
