Norris Assumes McLaren’s Reality: “We Are Where We Should Be”

Lando Norris has not wanted to deceive himself, the British McLaren driver, reigning world champion, assumed with resignation the fifth position on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix a result that, according to his own words, reflects the team's reality at Marina Bay: "I think in the end we are where we should be, we haven't done anything, nothing has changed since the Sprint so there is no reason for us to suddenly be on the pace" Norris declared after the session.

The Briton, who stayed a little more than three tenths behind Max Verstappen's pole, acknowledged that the MCL40 is an extremely difficult car to take to the limit: "The car is simply too challenging, that's why we are P5 and P7. It's too difficult, I feel like I almost crash to put a purple sector but you can't do that, the tires don't survive. The car is simply too difficult to be at the perfect limit when it is fast and the possibility of putting together a lap at that limit is basically impossible" he explained frankly.

Norris also referred to the incident he starred in with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, during Saturday's Sprint. Both drivers crashed and ended up in a spin, an episode that the stewards decided not to investigate, despite the setback the Briton showed himself understanding and focused on the common objective: "Of course I was pushing, I had hopes and felt I had a good idea of what I wanted to do but it just didn't come out. We are where we should be" he insisted.

Piastri, for his part, agreed with his teammate's diagnosis, the Australian qualified seventh although he will start sixth after George Russell's penalty and acknowledged that the MCL40 is not at the level of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes on the urban circuit of Marina Bay: "I think, to be honest, we looked relatively convincingly the third or fourth fastest car, I think Max had us covered and I think the Ferraris too to be honest" he noted.

The Australian also lamented not having been able to extract more performance from the car in a session that he described as complicated: "A bit of a shame, I expected a little more, but I think that was practically all we had, it wasn't the smoothest session, some mistakes here and there, it's not easy to get time out of the car. We'll try again tomorrow" Piastri added, who had to deal with the damage to his car after the crash with Norris in the Sprint.

McLaren faces Sunday's race with the need to minimize damage and score the maximum possible points, the British team, which arrived in Singapore with the hope of recovering the performance lost in the last races, has found a reality harder than expected. The lack of competitiveness of the MCL40 on urban circuits and the difficulty in finding the right balance have left Norris and Piastri in a complicated position.

Both drivers trust that the race, with its multiple variables and the possibility of the Safety Car appearing, will offer them an opportunity to come back and score valuable points in the fight for the constructors' championship.