McLaren‘s Lando Norris slammed a “shocking” fourth-place performance in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
Norris was untouchable last time out at the Singapore Grand Prix, winning by over 20 seconds, but a prolonged Autumn break later and the McLaren ace could only muster fourth in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas.
The champion pendulum instead swung in the direction of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who took the top spot, a quarter of a second faster than Norris.
After finding Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc between him and his title rival, Norris was downbeat speaking to Sky Sports F1.
“[It was] not a great day,” Norris rued.
“I’ve been struggling the whole day, honestly, with the balance and the setup.
“In a way, I’m happy with P4, because I felt like it could have been a lot worse, but my lap was shocking.
“So, yeah, not a terrible day, could have been worse, could have been better, but I’ll take it.”
Lando Norris: McLaren missing performance compared to F1 rivals
Asked to give his prediction for Saturday’s Sprint, Norris continued his overall pessimistic stance.
“I mean, I hope to go forward,” he said.
“That’s my plan. But on pace, I think we are where we deserve to be today. So my plan is to go forward, but I have no idea how much we can.”
With McLaren bringing upgrades to Austin, Norris was asked whether the team had developed itself into a poor performance window, something that has tripped up rival outfits throughout the course of the year.
Norris dismissed this, saying “It’s not a new package. It’s pretty much the same.”
There was further woe on the other side of the McLaren garage as Oscar Piastri was dumped out of the first session of Sprint qualifying.
A track limits error resigned the Australian to start from 16th for Saturday morning’s short format race.
Piastri acknowledged it was a “shame” a few mistakes cost him, adding that McLaren’s rivals look better in Austin this weekend.
“[The car] feels okay, maybe not quite as strong as what it has in the last few races but I don’t think that’s because we’re weaker, I think the others seem little bit stronger maybe,” he explained.
“So, let’s see, you know, I’m sure we’re still well and truly in the fight.”
READ MORE: Max Verstappen snatches F1 Sprint pole in Austin from George Russell
