LANDO Norris aims to be ready to “take advantage of any opportunities that come up” at this weekend's Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy.
Qualifying will take place at 4pm today (Friday) at the Imola circuit, with the Saturday sprint race format making its first appearance of 2022.
Today's qualifying session will set the order for tomorrow's 21-lap sprint, which will decide the order for Sunday's 63-lap race.
McLaren driver Norris, who is from Glastonbury, secured his first podium of last season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with a third-place finish - and the 22-year-old is looking forward to returning.
He told McLaren's official website: “I’m excited to be back in Imola! It was a great race for me last year, scoring my first podium of 2021.
“We’re not back fighting for podiums just yet but, hopefully, we can keep moving forward and get the most out of this weekend.
“The circuit is fast, with some iconic features which should be interesting to tackle in the new cars.
“The sprint always adds an extra bit of excitement for the fans so I’m looking forward to seeing how the weekend plays out.”
McLaren enjoyed their best weekend of the season so far at the Australian Grand Prix last time out.
Norris finished in fifth behind only race winner Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton to gain his best finish of the season.
His teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished in sixth to claim his first points of 2022.
Norris added: “Australia was a more positive weekend for us, but we know we still have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be.
“Let’s keep improving, keep learning more about the car and be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come up.”
His teammate, eight-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo, said: “I’m still on a high after a strong result in front of an incredible home crowd in Melbourne, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going as we head to Imola.
“With the sprint format returning, anything is possible so we’ve got to get our heads down, keep going with the improvements and extract as much as we can from the car.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says the target is to build on consecutive double-points finishes at this circuit.
He said: “We aim for the same this year, but a track like Imola often creates opportunities and the addition of the sprint format for this weekend means we’ll need to be operationally sharp and ready to capitalise.
“Imola is a great, historic track and it will be interesting to see how the improved overtaking from these new cars will impact racing.
“With the grid for Sunday determined by the sprint, there is bound to be plenty of exciting racing for the fans, now with the added incentive of points for the top eight on Saturday.”
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