Lando Norris was disappointed that he could not beat his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix after a mistake on the last qualifying lap.
Norris will start the race in second place behind Piastri after aborting his final lap when he started to run wide at turn two.
Victory in Sunday's race will give Norris his first world title regardless of where his rivals finish, but if he crosses the finish line behind Piastri the battle for the championship will go to the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Norris said his mistake was all the more disappointing because he had improved on his performance since Friday night's sprint qualifying.
“[I'm] very disappointed,” he told Sky Sports. “Yesterday [in sprint qualifying] I didn't feel like I had the pace for pole, but I felt a lot more comfortable today.
“I was convinced that I would have been able to take pole, but that’s not the case now, so I’m really disappointed with myself about that, especially since my qualifying has been pretty strong lately.
“I think I can’t always be great and always be on pole, but today I missed the opportunity,” Norris continued. “But the focus is on tomorrow.”
After the top three riders completed Saturday's sprint race where they started, Norris said he was not optimistic about his chances of overtaking Piastri on Sunday.
“I'm second, so I don't have much chance of winning at the moment,” he said. “But yeah, I'm just focusing on trying to get a good start.
“There's a long way to go until the first turn – it's a good opportunity for anyone to gain or lose ground.
“Other than that, I think it will be a pretty boring and simple race.”
Asked how he would sleep knowing he had a chance to win his first Formula One title on Sunday, Norris joked: “I hope not well because usually the worse I sleep, the better I do!”
