Lando Norris, the championship leader and preseason title favorite, took to social media to vent. He managed to set a lap good enough for sixth in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, a McLaren failure of a machine. After a promising start to the season, Norris admitted he felt “clueless” about his struggles, which left him searching for answers.
During the qualifying session, Norris’s performance did not meet expectations, especially considering McLaren’s strong showing throughout practice. He conceded that the car is “amazing,” adding that it’s possibly their best on the grid. He acknowledged that his own performance failed to stack up. “I’ve been off every lap this weekend, just not comfortable,” he stated. “Don’t know why, just clueless on track at the minute.”
Despite being aware of Oscar Piastri’s impressive performance during qualifying, Norris dismissed concerns regarding his teammate’s strong showing for pole position. Instead, he talked about his own shortcomings, stressing that he was simply “not fast enough” and had to do better.
Norris was adamant that McLaren doesn’t have the best car this season. Tough guy as he is, after qualifying, the likable one admitted that they made themselves look REALLY GOOD on Saturday night. “I can’t fault the team…the car is the best by a long way,” he noted. Personally, he admitted that despite the incredible potential of the car, his own performance just hasn’t done it justice.
“I just can’t flow with the car, and when I can’t flow, I’m not very quick,” he added, indicating that he would need to work on himself to regain his competitive edge.
McLaren’s managing director, Zak Brown, called it “a good thing” for Norris as the pair prepared for the weekend race. “Tomorrow is a new day,” Brown said. He’s got a great race car, he’s a great racing driver and he is leading the championship so … a clean slate and a good night’s sleep can go a long way.
Norris’s continued unhappiness with the car has been a consistent storyline this year. Admittedly, he says, he had no answers to what went wrong in quality. For many, he accepted that he wanted a “big reset.”
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