Lando Norris admitted that he broke “rule number one” in free practice for the US Grand Prix, yet he still finished second.
Last time out in Turkey, the McLaren driver had a quieter weekend than normal, starting and finishing seventh on a circuit where his car was less competitive than in recent races.
But there are clear indicators that Norris could be back to his old form at the Circuit of The Americas, where he finished second in Italy and came close to winning his first Formula One race in Russia, where his hopes were scuppered by a late rain shower in which he chose to stay out on slick tyres.
In FP2 at the Texan track, the Briton was only beat by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas right behind him in third and fourth.
And this was despite the fact that he had committed the cardinal sin of braking on a kerb, which he said was a driver’s cardinal sin.
When asked if Norris’ lock-ups were caused by the bumps on the Austin circuit, the 21-year-old replied, “No, that was just me being a fool, braking on the kerb, which you just never do.”
He added: “It was a good day in terms of result and pace, not easy to achieve that. Difficult because of the wind and the bumps and the conditions, which make it very tricky out there.
“Even with the set-up, the first couple of runs I struggled quite a bit, but the final run we made some changes. Then I was much happier with the car and could push it more and the lap time came easier.
“I think we’re in a good place and I think we can quite easily make some changes into tomorrow to give myself some more confidence, and confidence is lap time a lot of the time. A decent first day and I look forward to the rest.”
Tyre degradation, according to Norris, will be a key role in the race, contributing to an entertaining grand prix for the expected 140,000 spectators on Sunday.
“There’s a lot of degradation but you can still be fast because everyone is struggling with a similar thing, because of the track temperature, the surface and so on,” said Norris. “But then I also ran the tyres which I flat-spotted, which makes it feel a lot worse than it is.
“It’s interesting. It will probably make for a good race on Sunday – who can keep their tyres in a good condition.”
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