Lando Norris has proposed that McLaren’s improved pace over a single lap in recent Formula 1 rounds has come at a cost to the team’s competitiveness in race trim.
Norris mastered treacherous conditions in Las Vegas to seize a third successive pole position, but a mistake at the start unravelled his bid to take a third straight win.
The Briton braked too late into Turn 1 and ran out wide on the low-grip track, enabling Max Verstappen to nip through and into a race lead that he would not relinquish.
However, Norris, who did reclaim the spot that he lost to George Russell on the opening lap, has insisted McLaren wasn’t quick enough to beat Verstappen regardless.
“I was all out. We weren’t quick enough,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week, prior to the news that both he and team-mate Oscar Piastri had been excluded.
“They were just much quicker than us today. Not miles, but we certainly had our issues, and that made the gap probably bigger than it was. But otherwise they were just quicker.
“Even if I came out of Turn 1 ahead, I don’t think we would have won the race today.
“Like Max says, it’s tough, it’s close, and I gave myself a good opportunity yesterday to try and win the race.
“Of course, I messed it up and made my life tougher into Turn 1. But even after that, we just weren’t quick enough.
“Even when I thought I kept the tyres in a better condition than the others, kind of brought them in nicer, I was pushing flat out, and Max was still pulling away.”
Norris admits McLaren has lost ground to rivals in race trim
Verstappen’s win in Las Vegas means McLaren has now been beaten five times across the last seven rounds, having registered 12 victories in the preceding 15 races.
Prior to last weekend, Norris had stalled Verstappen’s resurgence with a dominant weekend in Mexico and another triumph in Brazil to cement his championship lead.
But having avowed that the Dutchman would’ve won at Interlagos had he started higher up, Norris is now under no illusion that McLaren has lost its competitive edge.
“So it seems like lately we’ve been able to improve our quali pace, but our race pace has taken a bit of a hit,” he pondered.
“Even when you look at Brazil – our quali pace was very strong, but Max was still a little faster in the race.
“Similar this weekend – we were very, very good yesterday, like incredibly strong yesterday, but just not good enough today.
“So we’ll see what’s maybe changed over the last few weeks and what we can improve on for Qatar.”
READ MORE – McLaren unsure whether Max Verstappen antics contributed to Lando Norris error in Las Vegas
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