Lando Norris has made a damning admission over McLaren’s pace after qualifying sixth at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Norris and McLaren have slipped down the competitive order in recent races, now arguably having the fourth fastest car behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
That slide continued again in Mexico City, as teammate Oscar Piastri qualified a lowly 13th, while Norris will line up sixth for Sunday’s race.
The reigning champion looked to be in contention for pole position, setting the fastest lap in Q2, before slipping back in the closing seconds of qualifying.
Norris admitted he was happy with Q3 performance, before making a damning admission of the pace of his MCL40 in Mexico City.
“I don’t think anything slipped away, I think just the lap I did was pretty phenomenal in the car that we have,” he said of his Q3 lap to media, including Motorsport Week.
“I think it shows us where Oscar is and the struggles we’ve been having, how difficult it is to put just a lap together in this car.
“I’m pretty happy with the P6 honestly, you never really know what you’re going to get and after I did a good lap in Q2 I knew I was screwed for Q3 because the chance of me repeating that lap is impossible.
“It’s just we’re too slow, every now and then I can put a magical lap together and everyone has a bit of hope, which is not a good thing because then you see the reality of Q3.
“It’s the same as the whole year, we’re just not quick enough, the car is too difficult to drive. Maybe one in 50 I can put together and everyone says you’ve got a good car but then it’s not true.”
Lando Norris reveals where he lost his final Q3 lap
Norris then detailed where time slipped away from him, admitting his Q2 lap surprised him, speaking of his belief that “there’s always a little hope”.
“Every corner, just look at the GPS, you’ll see how bad we are in sector 1, turn 1, turn 2, turn 3, so two turns every single lap. If we’re two turns off in the first three corners, it’s impossible that you think we can even be close to the rest of the lap. I think the only corner I’m good at is turn 7, that’s it.”
“You just always have to keep trying, you never know when things are just going to suddenly go your way. In my Q2 lap I just had an amazing headwind in turn 12, I got in 1.5 tenths just because the car gripped.
“The next lap I try and go the same speed in, I lose the rear, I lose a tenth, so I got a 2.5 tenths delta to my previous. It’s just too difficult, especially when I slip along more smoothly, it baffles me how we can be quick sometimes.
“It always feels like there’s a little bit of hope, which is also as much as it wasn’t a good thing, it’s a good thing at the same time that the speed can be there if things just somehow come together, but you never know when they’re going to come together.”
Norris faces being dethroned as world champion on Sunday, as Kimi Antonelli looks set to take the title from him, he will be aiming for a strong race regardless of the outcome.
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