Lando Norris reckoned his United States Grand Prix pole lap was the "best of my career" after denying Max Verstappen in Formula 1 qualifying thanks to the George Russell-induced red flag.
After Q2, Norris had been almost three-tenths shy of Verstappen's headline effort in the middle stage, with few drivers looking like a genuine threat to the Dutchman over a single lap.
Norris then grabbed a 0.031s advantage after the first laps in Q3 as both drivers took fresh softs at the start of the session, a lap that the Briton later conceded that he would have struggled to improve on.
Pole position went Norris' way when Russell put his car into the wall at Turn 18, which brought out the red flag and put a pin in Verstappen's effort - one that was set to be quicker than Norris' eventual pole time.
Norris remarked over the radio that his lap was "beautiful", and later explained that he wouldn't have been able to repeat the lap if he's had another chance.
"The best, probably, of my career I think. It was just a very nice lap," Norris reflected.
"I kind of set the bar too high, because on my second lap, I was like, 'guys, I don't think I'm going to improve much here'.
"I got everything out of the car. We changed a good amount from the sprint race into qualifying today and definitely took a step forward.
"But, man, I was still struggling a lot so I just knew I had to risk a little bit more and then give it a little extra. And it just came together perfectly, but it was definitely not a lap I could have repeated.
"So I'm very happy, because I really wasn't expecting to be here today."
Norris explained that the McLaren was falling short in the high-speed sectors versus the Red Bull, hence his first sector deficit against Verstappen.
Asked where he was risking it the most, Norris said: "It was just – it was a bit everywhere, honestly. But of course, the high-speed is where we struggle to touch the Red Bulls; Max has been extremely quick in the first sector, and the high-speed [corners]."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella agreed that Norris' first time had been "pretty much perfect" and that his driver was going to struggle to improve on a second run.
Stella added that McLaren had been able to make concerted improvements over the set-up after the sprint race, and hoped that the MCL38 would suffer less with tyre degradation in Sunday's race compared to the sprint.
"It would have been difficult I think for Lando to improve on a second set of tyres," Stella told Sky F1.
"I saw Verstappen was on a fast lap, which could have been a problem for us in terms of pole position, so I think the yellow flag helped us.
"Overall, it's encouraging that we've been able to improve the car from the sprint performance. We have made some tuning to the set-up. I think we understand some aspects also from a driving point of view.
"Lando and Oscar have been able to pull it all together. P1 and P5 are important for tomorrow, and hopefully, we will be able to reduce the tyre degradation, which was high in the sprint."
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren
