Car back to Norris' liking as "small margin" costs him…

Lando Norris insists he is much happier with his McLaren Formula 1 car than he was in China - despite being beaten to Japanese Grand Prix pole by Max Verstappen.

The current championship leader bemoaned small margins for missing out on pole by 0.012 seconds at Suzuka as Verstappen surprisingly took the top spot ahead of both Norris and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Throughout the Chinese GP weekend a fortnight ago Norris spoke of how difficult he found the car to drive, with small errors costing him in both qualifying sessions and the sprint race in Shanghai.

Now he feels in a better position, despite having been pipped to pole by Verstappen. Norris had earlier been quickest in FP1 and FP3, while Piastri was top of the pile in second practice.

“I was pretty happy with my lap, honestly,” said Norris.

“I tried pushing a good amount more in Q3 run one and it didn't work out, clearly. So I just had to kind of peg it back a lot.

“I was happy with the balance and happy with the car at the end. So I mean, the margin is so small… but just not enough for pole today.

“[I’m] much happier than China, yeah. I mean, the car's a lot more back to my liking. I've got some front end in the car, and I'm much, much happier with that.

Lando Norris, McLaren (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

“I've been feeling confident all weekend. If it was a sprint race, I feel like I'd be much further ahead.

“But everyone's good enough that, by the time you get to qualifying, they kind of catch up a bit. I've been feeling good, but the car's been feeling good from the off as well.

“We've been chipping away, and I think between both of us, we've been quickest in every session, bar this one. So it's a little frustrating, but I think the corners I still struggle with and the corners I'm still not happiest with are the corners I still just don't have the front-end and I don't have the grip in the car when I need it from the front.

“So it's clear what suits me, what doesn't, or just what allows me to be quick and what doesn't. China was one of those weaker tracks and come here and the car's a lot better.”

Norris defeated Verstappen by less than a second to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, a race where downpours certainly added to the spectacle.

With rain forecast overnight at Suzuka and potential for showers on Sunday, Norris was not prepared to predict what might happen as he once again battles Verstappen off the line.

“No one knows what the weather's going to be like tomorrow, so no point trying to think of too many things,” he said.

“I think we'll do our homework tonight. It's probably going to be a bit of a race like Melbourne, and that was an exciting race for everyone but now I've got to try do some overtakes, we will see.

“It is exciting, the unknown of the weather is going to make it exciting and nerve-wracking for everyone and I’ve got to try and get past the man on my left [Verstappen].”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura - AFP - Getty Images)

Piastri, who won in China having taken his first-ever grand prix pole, will start on the second row after losing time during the fast first sector.

The Australian set the fastest times in sectors two and three but could not make up for the valuable moments lost at the start of his final flying lap and, in direct contrast to his team-mate, said he has had to work harder to find the McLaren's sweet spot at Suzuka.

“It wasn't my best sector one,” he conceded. “I think I lost a little bit of time compared to the first lap of Q3 and, when the gap is 0.040s from first to third, you think about it quite a bit.

“I've been pretty comfortable through qualifying - I think the first lap of Q3 was a good one.

“The second one, just a little bit off the mark in a couple of places but I had to dial myself in a bit more this weekend than I did last race, and it's taken a bit longer to get there.

“I think looking at the margins and how I’ve performed, I've been pretty happy, just those little margins which, when it is so tight, make all the difference, clearly.

“[Now] just see what the weather does. Obviously, the game plan is to try and finish two spots ahead of where I'm starting. But apart from that, we'll see what we get tomorrow first.”