Lando Norris endured a frustrating Singapore GP qualifying session, lining up fifth after struggling with an unpredictable McLaren package.
Max Verstappen claimed pole position ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, while Norris could only manage fifth place, one spot ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in seventh.
Following a turbulent Singapore GP Sprint race earlier in the day that saw the McLaren teammates collide on the final lap, Norris struggled to extract consistent single-lap pace from his MCL38 during Q3.
The Briton admitted that forcing performance out of a difficult car left no margin for error.
“Nothing’s changed. We’re not quick enough. I mean, there were moments where I would do a good Sector 1 or a good Sector 2, but the car is just so difficult to drive,” Norris conceded.
“Yeah, it’s just too difficult to drive, means we’re P5 or P7. But, you know, it felt like there was potential and it felt like I could maybe put together some magical lap in Q3 if things just went my way.
“But today was just, yeah, too tricky from a car perspective to be at this limit where if I push 101 percent, it’s finished, if I push 99, I’m finished.”
“So it’s balancing it too much and on a track like this with the bumps and everything it was just too difficult. So, no reasons, no excuses, just not quite good enough.”
Pace limitations for Norris
When asked whether tyre management or the overall unpredictability of the car caused the shortfall, Norris pointed squarely at fundamental pace limitations forcing him to overdrive through Marina Bay’s demanding street layout.
“For the unpredictability of the car, it’s not like we can just let the car do a lot of the work and then add finesse to it,” Norris explained.
“Like, the car doesn’t feel ready and you have to really make it and force it to get a lot of lap time out.
“On a track like this where the tyres degrade to the lap where you need good traction, good rear, as soon as you feel like you’ve put together a good Sector 1, Sector 2 is bad or Sector 3, you know.”
“So it’s just, the car is simply not quick enough which means you have to overdrive and when you have to overdrive it’s just so easy to make a mistake, especially on a track like this.”
While McLaren’s raw pace leaves them fighting on the back foot against Verstappen and a revived Ferrari package, Norris’s admission reveals a team operating on a razor’s edge where even minor overdriving leads directly to grid-position penalties on Sunday.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen edges Ferraris to scintillating Singapore F1 pole position
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