Motorsport Week
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Motorsport Week
Home Single Seater Formula 1

Norris: McLaren F1 pace ‘not enough’ to challenge Verstappen

by Dan Lawrence
1 year ago
A A
Norris: McLaren F1 pace ‘not enough’ to challenge Verstappen

Norris, by his own admission didn't have the pace to match Verstappen on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Despite clinching his second successive front-row start of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Lando Norris adjudges that McLaren’s pace was simply “not enough” to challenge polesitter Max Verstappen.

Norris was less than a tenth shy of Verstappen during Friday’s Sprint qualifying and challenged him for victory early on during Saturday morning’s Sprint, but the Red Bull ace turned up the pace in GP qualifying.

With qualifying results often being decided by minor fractions of a second, Verstappen out-qualifying Norris by over four-tenths on a 64 second lap is seismic in comparison.

Norris insinuated his laps on Saturday were missing something compared to the day prior as he sought to reason why his McLaren was a step behind Verstappen’s charging bull.

RelatedPosts

Max Verstappen has given Red Bull a new lease of life in F1 2025

How Max Verstappen has spearheaded ‘quite spectacular’ Red Bull progress in F1 2025

27 minutes ago
Carlos Sainz and Rebecca Donaldson during the Miami Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz slams F1 over Singapore GP television coverage

2 hours ago

“[It was] a bit trickier today than it was yesterday for, you know, wind and kind of conditions and stuff like that,” Norris said.

“But, you know, relatively, we’re much further back, closer to the Mercedes and Ferraris than we were relative to Max.

“So a bit of it’s in my lap. Like definitely yesterday, I probably did a better lap and made up for some of it and I think today there was at least one or two-tenths in just doing a very good lap from my side, but definitely not enough to get Max.

“So he did a good job and Red Bull made a good step from where they were yesterday and clearly were a lot quicker than what we could achieve today.

“So still P2, still front row and yeah, hopefully we can turn that into something good tomorrow.”

Saturday morning’s Sprint provided Norris with a trial run at challenging Verstappen for a race victory, but he came up short.

A lunge into Turn 3 on Lap 5 granted him a temporary lead, before leaving the door open lost him first back to Verstappen and third to his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Norris will start the Austrian GP from second on the grid

However, that slip-up aside, Norris is unsure if he’d have had the pace in racing conditions to challenge Verstappen to the chequered flag and predicts another difficult challenger for Sunday’s Grand Prix given the Dutchman’s pace in qualifying.

“I know what I did wrong,” Norris said of the Sprint.

“It was obviously very clear. But from the pace advantage Max had today, that’s probably going to carry into something tomorrow as well.

“So I’m not sure even today if I, you know, had a perfect run of things and if it was just between Max and myself, I’m not sure I probably would have had the pace to quite keep up with what Max was able to do.

“Then into quali today, it showed that they were just a pretty good step ahead of us. So we’ll see.”

Norris wasn’t all glass half empty however, saying “It’s another day. Things can change and conditions are going to be very warm again. So the races have been good to us lately.

“It’s been one of our strengths relative to qualifying. So [I’m] excited to see what we can do.”

Tags: AustrianGPF1Lando NorrisMcLaren
Share201Tweet126Share

Related Posts

Max Verstappen has given Red Bull a new lease of life in F1 2025
Formula 1

How Max Verstappen has spearheaded ‘quite spectacular’ Red Bull progress in F1 2025

27 minutes ago
Carlos Sainz and Rebecca Donaldson during the Miami Grand Prix
Formula 1

Carlos Sainz slams F1 over Singapore GP television coverage

2 hours ago
Yuki Tsunoda was handed a brutal takedown by Giedo van der Garde after the F1 Singapore GP
Formula 1

Yuki Tsunoda urged to admit ‘he’s not good enough’ at Red Bull

3 hours ago
Load More

Discussion about this post

Upcoming Races

#EventDate
18Singapore GP03-05 October
19United States GP17-19 October
20Mexico City GP24-26 October
21São Paulo GP07-09 November
22Las Vegas GP20-22 November

Click here for the full 2025 F1 calendar

Drivers’  Standings

#DriverPts
Oscar Piastri324
Lando Norris299
Max Verstappen255
George Russell212
Charles Leclerc165
Lewis Hamilton121
Andrea Kimi Antonelli78
Alexander Albon70
Isack Hadjar39
Nico Hulkenberg37

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

Latest Articles

Max Verstappen has given Red Bull a new lease of life in F1 2025
Formula 1

How Max Verstappen has spearheaded ‘quite spectacular’ Red Bull progress in F1 2025

October 9, 2025
Carlos Sainz and Rebecca Donaldson during the Miami Grand Prix
Formula 1

Carlos Sainz slams F1 over Singapore GP television coverage

October 9, 2025
Yuki Tsunoda was handed a brutal takedown by Giedo van der Garde after the F1 Singapore GP
Formula 1

Yuki Tsunoda urged to admit ‘he’s not good enough’ at Red Bull

October 9, 2025

Follow Motorsport Week

Join our daily motorsport newsletter

* indicates required

Motorsport Week

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Other Links

  • About & Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Motorsport Monday

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Formula 1
    • Latest News
    • 2025 F1 Calendar
    • 2025 F1 Championship Standings
  • Formula E
    • Latest News
    • 2025 FE Calendar
    • 2025 FE Championship Standings
  • MotoGP
    • Latest News
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • WRC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
    • 2025 WRC Standings
  • IndyCar
    • Latest News
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WEC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • Live Updates
  • Other
    • IMSA
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • Galleries
  • About/Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd