Lando Norris will start Sunday’s F1 US GP from second on the grid after a challenging Qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas, but the McLaren driver admits his team struggled to match Red Bull’s pace in Austin.
Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the US GP, with Norris finishing second and Charles Leclerc third in a session that proved far more difficult for the British driver than Friday’s running had suggested.
A struggle from the start
Speaking after the F1 US GP Qualifying, Norris was candid about McLaren’s difficulties throughout the session. “Too difficult,” he said when asked about extracting lap time from his car. “I mean, comparing to yesterday… Yesterday, I was pretty happy with everything and things came a bit easier. Today, not so much. And I think that was clear already in Q1, Q2, and Q3.”
The 25-year-old revealed that his final lap—which secured him a front-row start—represented only a marginal improvement. “Well, I improved like, I don’t know, half a tenth or a tenth. It was a bit more of a struggle today for whatever reason. Yesterday, I was just quite comfortable. And I don’t know if it’s just everyone else has improved a bit or the wind today hurt us a bit more.”
Norris admitted he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his performance. “Not my best lap—I said that on the radio after. So, yeah, just not a great session. So to be P2 I’m still pretty happy with.”
Sprint crash leaves McLaren on the back foot
Norris’s qualifying preparations for the F1 US GP were far from ideal after he was caught up in a first-corner incident during Saturday’s Sprint race, which also involved teammate Oscar Piastri. The collision meant McLaren’s mechanics had to rush to repair his car before qualifying began.
“The boys and girls did a good job to get everything back and prepared,” Norris said. “Obviously, never the best preparation for everyone to be rushing to put the car back together, but that was all fine.”
However, the early Sprint exit has left Norris facing significant unknowns heading into Sunday’s race. “I think quite a bit, honestly, because we’ve not done—I don’t think I’ve done more than three laps in a row and not more than, like, 40 kilos of fuel. So, I have no idea,” he explained when asked about the disadvantage.
“We were hoping to learn a lot this morning in the Sprint, in terms of how the car set-up was going to be from quali to race and how it changes and the things that are good and bad. And then hopefully make tweaks for this quali for the race tomorrow. But obviously that didn’t go to plan. So, yeah, we’re certainly on the back foot, but I guess we will try not to use that as an excuse tomorrow.”
Red Bull’s resurgence
Norris was realistic about Red Bull’s performance advantage at COTA, with Verstappen consistently quicker throughout qualifying. “I think every single lap that we did today was between, what, five tenths to—three to five tenths off of Max. So to turn that around completely tomorrow, I think it’s going to be pretty difficult,” he said.
When asked if he expected Red Bull to be so competitive in Austin, Norris pointed to their recent form. “They’ve been quick in many races recently,” he said. “You know, the last month, two months, they’ve been doing a very good job—both Max and Red Bull. They’ve just been doing a good job and have seemed to catch us up a little bit.”
“I think most places we go now, we think Red Bull will be our biggest competitor, and that’s how it’s been for the last few months—and I’d say the whole year.”
Consistency key in title fight
Despite the difficulties, Norris remains focused on the championship battle. With teammate Piastri qualifying sixth and momentum shifting between the teams, Sunday’s race takes on added significance.
“I think before the weekend, I was asked what’s going to help me get further up. At the minute, it’s just consistency,” Norris said. “I think on a day like today, it’s just clear we’re not as quick as the Red Bull and therefore we have to be happy with the P2 because that’s the best we could have done today.”
“It’s just not getting distracted by the mess and the nonsense around that everyone creates and just focus on doing my laps, doing my own job, focusing on trying to get good results and a good performance.”
Race day optimism
Despite acknowledging Red Bull’s pace advantage, Norris maintained he had to remain optimistic for Sunday’s race, where McLaren have typically performed better relative to their Saturday form.
“Certainly with my position tomorrow and knowing our form in race pace compared to quali, we know Saturdays have just never been as good this year. So I’m hoping we can turn it up a little bit tomorrow and be a bit quicker,” he said.
“I have to be optimistic. Silly not to be,” he added, though he tempered expectations given the performance deficit shown in qualifying.
As for the start itself, Norris was keen to avoid a repeat of the Sprint race drama. “Yeah, just don’t get hit—that’s my clue for tomorrow,” he said. “But I look forward to hopefully having a good race with Max. You know, we’ve had some good ones in the past, so I’m looking forward to it again.”
