“I Did a Very Bad Job” – Lando Norris Admits His McLaren Had Front Row Potential at COTA

Lando Norris has branded his own performance in the Austin qualifying as a “bad job,” after a late track limits violation and a gust of unfavorable wind left him down in eighth place. A tricky car to handle made life worse for the reigning world champion, but he still felt that there was pace left to find in the car.

Quoted by Racer following the qualifying session in COTA, Norris claimed that while his car was incredibly strong in terms of pace, it was still one of the hardest cars he has ever had to drive in his life.

“The car was very strong today in terms of pace, but insanely difficult to drive. Probably the hardest car I’ve ever had to drive in my life. But it was good enough for P2, so I should be P2, but I’m P8, so clearly I did a very bad job today.”

Notably, Norris’ belief of being P2 stems from the fact that the Englishman had topped Q1, and the start to Q3 was far from optimal for him. A gust of wind in the final sector put him more than a second behind Kimi Antonelli while his second attempt was deleted for a track limits infringement.

Given the same, Norris even claimed to have done a “c**t job” out on the track. And the tale was the same with the other McLaren driver.

Oscar Piastri Echoes the Sentiments of Lando Norris

Echoing the sentiments of his teammate, Oscar Piastri was vocal about citing similar challenges with the handling of the MCL40 in Austin. Having secured a P7 start for Sunday’s race, Piastri admitted that it has been a less than ideal weekend for his team so far.

He felt that the car has the potential to be very quick, but “it’s just incredibly difficult to drive.” The Australian driver added that it has been a challenge to drive the MCL40 in COTA ever since the first lap on Friday, and it is hardly a surprise for them to end up where they did.

The No. 81 driver even revealed that his team tried a variety of stuff, but nothing really seemed to be the fix. Despite it all, Piastri was still confident that he had done a reasonable job out on the track.

With COTA not being a strong suit for him, Piastri was happy to have been able to do relatively well in areas he wanted to focus on. However, he admitted that “just trying to put a lap together has been almost impossible.”

While both McLaren drivers had a tough outing during the qualifying session, the woes presented by them weren’t a newfound complaint. Norris has struggled with the handling of the car throughout the weekend, with practice clearly leaving McLaren in fourth place as a team.

Lando Norris Has Been Lamenting the McL40 All Week

At the end of FP2, just 0.189 seconds separated the top three finishers. Meanwhile, Norris, who was the pace-setting McLaren of the session, was 1.082 seconds behind Charles Leclerc. Even the Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson was ahead of the No. 1 driver, clearly indicating that things were not going the way of the Woking-based team.

Speaking after the session, Norris admitted that things were looking extremely difficult for them. While he appreciated the pace of the car, Norris still focused on how difficult it was to drive it. Given the weakness, getting consistent lap times out of the machine is no mean feat.

Despite the issues, Norris was still confident that overnight changes to the car might help ease some of the difficulties he and Piastri had been facing throughout the season. However, with qualifying over, it is clear that the changes have been far from optimal.

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• Charles Leclerc Reminds Lewis Hamilton of “The Line” Ferrari Drivers Must Not Cross Against Each Other at COTA