Lando Norris qualified fifth for the F1 Singapore Grand Prix race, after struggling to find pace and having tyre issues. Last year, Norris turned pole into a win in Singapore, but this season, the Marina Bay Street Circuit has proved more difficult.
Struggling across the weekend
Norris’ qualifying session in Singapore reflected the challenges he has faced all weekend. In practice, he finished sixth in FP1 and fifth in both FP2 and FP3. On his final qualifying lap, he set a slow first sector, improved a little in the second, but brushed the wall in the end, costing him crucial time.
When asked about his pace in qualifying, Norris said, “Just missing my driving. I just didn’t put it all together. You’re talking small margins and clearly as a team the car’s not in the right place, we’re just not quick enough, especially to do a point one. We’re out of our league at the minute. Just as we were out of some other leagues last year and at times this year, the tables have turned.”
He admitted that his car’s understeer and front tyre struggles limited his pace throughout the session. “I think also everyone seems to be struggling a lot with the front tyres this weekend. We know that’s a weakness of our car. At times it’s also my worst nightmare, it’s understeer. Like we’ve seen in Vegas, whenever people struggle to get the front tyres in, Mercedes normally rides to the top, like they’ve done this weekend.”
“I think when we put things together, we understand that Mercedes are very quick, which is unusual, they’ve not been this quick for a long time. We’ve put down more the track conditions and the new tarmac pieces are high grip, very understeery and we just couldn’t get the front of the car to work this weekend. We’re still struggling, hopefully less of an issue tomorrow. We’ll see if we’re just not quick enough. I just didn’t do the best job.”
Extracting maximum performance
Regarding maximum performance, Norris highlighted, “I’m sure in Singapore every driver will say a little bit more. It’s never easy to push it to the limits here. I had a small wall hit out of the last chicane. It cost me 600 or something to get two positions higher, maybe. Do I think there’s a 10th in it? For sure. If I could do it easily or if I knew why, I probably would have done it. I feel where there’s more lap time out of it.”
Singapore is a tight and twisty street circuit, which demands precision and high tyre management. Therefore, when asked about tyre preference, he admitted that he felt best on the medium tyres in comparison to the softs. “On the medium tyres this weekend, I’ve always felt very comfortable. The mediums have often had more front end, which just suits me. I can get more lap time out of it. It feels more reminiscent of last year. The feelings I want from the car, I put the soft on and I struggle again. Still lingering feelings of the car just not performing. I can’t say in the right way because we’ve been very quick all season. We also struggled here this weekend. Those issues and the issues I’ve had this year, which is the front of the car, seem to have arose again this weekend.”
Race pace and strategy
Regarding race pace and the struggle of overtaking at Marina Bay Street Circuit, Norris added: “Maybe, but you’ve got to be one second a lot quicker to overtake. I want to be one second a lot quicker.”
He added, “When you’re the leader around here, it’s quite easy, as I found out last year. It’s a different story for me tomorrow. I have to try and make up some big places. With a car that’s not as quick and all these things, I haven’t done any high fuel again this weekend. I’m on the back foot a little bit, but it’s a new day, so I’m optimistic. We can still try and get a few positions.”
Championship battle
Norris currently sits second in the championship standings with 299 points, behind his teammate Piastri, who leads with 324 points. Max Verstappen is also closing down the gap to Norris as he starts on the front row for the Singapore GP, having won the past two races in Monza and Baku.
On the championship figth with Piastri, Norris said: “I mean, it’s just points. I’m fifth, so not a lot of points. I’m behind the people I need to be behind. I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve just got to try and get my head down. It’s not an easy track to overtake on. That’s why today’s a bit frustrating, of course. I’m not the happiest about today from my own performance. I’ve got no one to worry about. If anyone’s got anything to worry about, it’s George. He was very quick today. It’s been a long weekend, and obviously went to run.”
