“Impossible To Put a Lap Together” – Lando Norris on McLaren’s Struggles After Practice in Austin

Lando Norris has shared his thoughts about the handling and pace of the MCL40 after the first day of practice at the 2026 U.S. Grand Prix. The defending F1 champion admitted that putting together a consistent lap remains a challenge at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Despite showing signs of competitive pace, Norris believes the team needs to make a few adjustments to improve the MCL40 ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.

“Yeah, just difficult, just impossible to put a lap together at the minute,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 when asked about the pace of his McLaren after the first Friday practice session.

“There are signs of good pace at the minute, but just to go into a qualifying now and be able to repeat that every lap and do it on demand is just too difficult.”

Norris’ Pace Dipped in Second Practice Session

The McLaren driver finished third in FP1 by 0.245 seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc. However, he failed to complete a clean lap on the soft tyre in FP2, leaving him seventh in the final session of day one.

While the results suggested that McLaren had the pace to compete near the front, Norris also highlighted the difficulty of producing the performance consistently.

The 26-year-old believes that the challenge might not be exclusive to his team; other teams could be facing the same around the demanding COTA track.

Lando Norris Admits McLaren “Need to Make Small Tweaks to the Car”

Norris believes that McLaren does not need to make dramatic changes to address the issue before the qualifying and main race. Instead, a series of smaller adjustments could help him find a more consistent lap time and get the most out of the car when it matters.

“I think we just need to make some small tweaks to the car,” Norris said.

“It’s not like there’s anything crazy; it’s just tough. And maybe our car seems to, at the minute, the car handling is just a little bit on the difficult-to-achieve side.

“So, maybe small things in a few directions can help us out, but the pace is there or thereabouts, like you said. We can still be optimistic.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put on a dominant show as he led both practice sessions at the 2026 US Grand Prix, topping both sessions at COTA. The British driver will compete for his fourth pole position of the year in qualifying on Saturday.

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