Lando Norris says he should have put his car on the front row of the grid after qualifying eighth.
The McLaren driver’s final lap time in Q3 was deleted because he exceeded track limits infringement at turn 15. Had that time stood, Norris would have qualified sixth.However he believes he could have qualified much higher than that.
“I should be P2 and I’m P8,” Norris told Viaplay. He said his session had been “terrible.”
“It was a very difficult car, but it can still be P2, and I should drive it to P2. I didn’t do it today, so I’m not happy with the job that I did.”
Norris, who scored back-to-back wins earlier this year, said he has “zero confidence” in the car at the moment. “I’m just scared in every single corner,” he said.
“Every corner I’m scared something’s going to happen, I’m going to make a mistake because it’s such a struggle.”
He told the official F1 channel he did a “crap job” in qualifying and faces a difficult task to make up ground in the race. “The pace is not bad,” he said. “It’s better than what it looks, but it’s going to be hard from P8, I guess.”
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His team mate Oscar Piastri said he is also struggling to tap the potential of McLaren’s car. The team enjoyed a strong run of form in the middle of the season but have struggled in recent races.
Piastri qualified seventh for this weekend’s race over three-quarters of a second behind pole-winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
“It’s been tough all weekend,” said Piastri after qualifying. “There’s just not been any pace so it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
“I think the car has the potential to be quick but it’s just incredibly difficult to drive. It’s been a challenge from the first lap yesterday until now so it’s not a massive surprise to end up where we are.”
The team introduced a few aerodynamic changes to its car for this weekend’s race. But Piastri said the team had not expected to make significant gains.
“We’ve tried a lot of stuff but nothing’s really seemed to be the fix,” he said. “We didn’t really expect any of the changes we made to make a massive difference but it’s just been incredibly difficult to get lap time out of the car.
“It’s just one of those weekends at the moment.”
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