Lando Norris has expressed that the United States Grand Prix weekend has demonstrated that rival Formula 1 teams are “closer than people think” to McLaren’s pace.
Norris maintained his recent impressive run as he delivered what he labelled as the “best” lap in his F1 career to date to pip Max Verstappen to pole position in Austin.
However, Verstappen was on track to usurp his championship rival’s benchmark time on his second attempt in Q3 when George Russell’s crash curtailed proceedings.
Red Bull’s emergence as the team to beat at the Circuit of the Americas has gone against the form book as McLaren has been viewed as the benchmark since Miami.
Norris, who is 54 points behind Verstappen, was unable to match the Dutchman in the Sprint and also lost a position to Carlos Sainz’s charging Ferrari on the final lap.
But while he’s uncertain about what has been behind the sudden balance change, Norris has insisted that McLaren’s advantage in recent races has been exaggerated.
Asked to explain the reasons behind McLaren’s relative pace drop, Norris responded: “It’s a good question. I don’t have an easy answer, honestly, for it.
“We’ve definitely had the best car for, for several races and quite a few races this year over the last two, three months, but definitely not every race.
“Singapore was, I think we can say quite confidently, we were the best.
“Baku, just the race before that, I think even though Oscar [Piastri] won, I think he won because he drove better than the others.
“And I think Red Bull and Ferrari were both quicker once again. People might not agree with that. That’s our version of events. That’s what we think as a team. That’s what we believe.
“So if we just go back two races ago, we were not the quickest car.
“We were last weekend in Singapore, or last time out in Singapore, and perceptions change because of certain things.
“When you’re in the team and you actually know where you stand, where you are relatively to other teams, I can confidently say these things and say where I believe we are and where we’re not.
“And I think even if we go back to Singapore, where we dominated, Ferrari were very quick the whole weekend until qualifying. They made some mistakes.
“I think the final stint, Charles [Leclerc] was the quickest car on the track on the Hard tyre.
“So it’s just you need to know information before you can make certain comments.”
He added: “I think it’s just been very close and closer than people think, even though we’ve dominated a few weekends.
“And this is one where we’re just not quite as quick and maybe the others have taken a couple of steps forward and it’s a little bit different.
“I don’t have any exact answer. I’m just driving the car. But this is my feeling and kind of our feeling as a team.”
McLaren losing time to Ferrari and Red Bull
Norris suspects that McLaren’s MCL38, which has new upgrades, is spurning lap time to Ferrari and Red Bull throughout the lap depending on the corner speed range.
“My lap was very good,” he recounted.
“I could not have gone one and a half tenths quicker or probably gone any quicker than the lap I did today, which shows we’re not as fast.
“But exactly knowing where we’re struggling a bit more is tough. There’s different reasons.
“A bit of the bottoming and the ride in the high speed, that’s where we struggle comparing to the Red Bulls.
“And comparing to the Ferraris, their slow speed is incredible,” he concluded.
READ MORE: Lando Norris ‘risked more’ to produce ‘best’ ever F1 lap at US GP
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