Lando Norris believes McLaren are “where we deserve to be” after falling short of its Formula 1 rivals in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, having appeared more competitive in free practice on Friday.
The papaya team came into the all-important qualifying at the Red Bull Ring with some promising positions in both FP1 and FP2, indicating it had the legs of both Ferrari and Red Bull.
But come the crunch moment, reigning World Champion Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri could not quite match them, ending up sixth and seventh respectively.
With George Russell taking pole position by a whopping two tenths, Ferrari were its nearest challengers, around two tenths ahead of the Woking-based squad.
And Norris and Piastri’s best times in Q3 were around four hundredths of a second off Max Verstappen in fifth, the Dutchman crashing out on his final run, which, if completed, may have seen him further ahead.
However, the #1 driver was confident of a “good result” if it completes maximum extraction of its package on race day.
“The race is going to be incredibly hot, and tyre degradation will be a major factor, much like it was in Barcelona,” he said. “A lot can happen with strategy, and pit stops but if we can manage the race well and take advantage of any opportunities, we’ll be in condition to secure a good result.”
‘It takes an insane lap’ to gain
Despite what, on paper, appears a disappointing day after a day of promise, Norris was left to rue its grid positions, but admitted it takes a “pretty insane lap” to jump a little further up the pecking order on a circuit such as this.
“I feel like everyone was probably expecting more, even us – we were probably expecting a little bit more, just from a position point of view,” he told media, including Motorsport Week.
“But you saw just how close it was. I think my lap felt pretty good. Similar to what Oscar said, it takes a pretty insane lap on a day like today to maybe get you a couple more positions, but they don’t come around very often, and it’s tricky to get that out of the car we have at the minute.
“So I think we’re happy to be, again, as close as we were to some of them. You just hope that some of them don’t do a perfect lap and make a couple of mistakes. That just wasn’t the case today.
“So we are just where we deserve to be.”
Norris is still yet to score a single Grand Prix win as defending World Champion, and, barring miracles, will be still searching for one by the time of his home Grand Prix in Silverstone next week.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
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