Lando Norris provides nightmare McLaren verdict in ‘simply too tough’ confession

Lando Norris gave a worrying McLaren verdict after a disappointing sprint qualifying session in China on Friday as he admitted to making ‘too many mistakes’

Lando Norris gave a worrying verdict after a disappointing sprint qualifying in China.

Following last weekend’s season-opening victory in Australia, Norris became the strong favourite to win the drivers’ title this season, but the Brit and his fans have been brought crashing back down to Earth with a frustrating sprint qualifying result.

Despite being the fastest by almost half a second in the only practice session and topping SQ2, Norris could only qualify in sixth for Saturday’s sprint race after aborting his final lap of SQ3.

Speaking after qualifying, the 25-year-old admitted: “I made a mistake. I locked up in the last corner. We just struggled a bit more now, just not quick enough, simply.

“I struggled a lot with the car. Just our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today. So, nothing more than that, honestly. Just too many mistakes but just too difficult of a car to drive.”

Norris added that the disappointing performance was “more on me rather than the car,” saying he Norris was “trying to push too much”.

“I think just throughout the day we’ve been struggling a bit with the front-locking and in the last corner with the tail-wind,” he continued.

“Kind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain, just a lot windier. When the wind’s blowing then we struggle a lot more. I think both myself and Oscar struggled more, clearly me more than him. Just pushing a bit hard to try to make up for not quite being quick enough.”

The grid for Saturday’s sprint race sees Lewis Hamilton on pole for the first time as a Ferrari driver, with Max Verstappen joining him on the front row. McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri starts P3, with Charles Leclerc in P4, while George Russell stars ahead of Norris in P5.

Hamilton called his weekend in Australia a “disaster” after strategy errors cost Hamilton and Leclerc significant points on the opening week.

Reacting to Ferrari’s change in fortune, he said: “We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job in the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we get a pole for the sprint race. It puts us in good stead for the race.”