Lando Norris blames himself for P8 qualifying at Circuit of the Americas

Norris blames himself for P8 qualifying

Lando Norris qualified eighth for the United States Grand Prix after his second Q3 effort at the Circuit of the Americas exceeded track limits at Turn 19. The reigning world champion initially sat in sixth place before stewards deleted his time, which left him one place behind teammate Oscar Piastri on the grid. Norris called his own performance a "crap job" and described the MCL40 as the "hardest car I’ve driven in my life." While he believed the car possessed enough pace to secure P2, he struggled with the handling during his qualifying runs. He expressed frustration because the car’s performance felt inconsistent across the different sectors of the track. Norris told Sky Sports that he was "not very happy" with himself after the session. He also suggested he might need to adjust his expectations because the car’s behavior makes it difficult to achieve a pole position. The 26-year-old driver remains incredibly frustrated because he believes the MCL40 possessed enough pace for a front-row start, yet he finished a full two seconds behind the pole-sitter due to his track limits penalty. His performance follows a collision with Piastri during the Singapore sprint race, an incident for which Zak Brown promised internal punishment. Norris’ first Q3 run only secured eighth place, but his second run at Turn 19 triggered the penalty.

MCL40 handling issues persist

The McLaren MCL40 struggles with straight-line speed and slow-corner performance. Despite McLaren bringing a revised front suspension geometry and an altered diffuser profile to Texas, the team has failed to score a podium in the last three races. Norris noted that improvements in three corners often lead to a "nightmare" in the other three, calling the car "impossible" to drive with the perfection he desires. Piastri also noted the difficulty in extracting lap time, stating that the car’s potential remains hard to tap. The team has fallen behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari in recent development. Piastri, who qualified seventh, said that the session was a "head-scratcher" because the car lacked consistent pace. He added that the team did not expect the recent aerodynamic changes to make a massive difference. Norris specifically noted that the car felt "dreadful" in the slow-speed sections of sector three. The driver remains convinced that he should have been in second place instead of eighth. This difficulty to manage the MCL40 makes the car the most challenging vehicle he has operated. Piastri admitted he was not anywhere near as competitive as he wanted to be. This follows a period where the team enjoyed a strong run of form during the middle of the season, but they have struggled in recent races.

Track limits and practice results

The qualifying session saw Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli take pole position, beating Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Norris finished a significant distance from the front, qualifying two seconds behind Antonelli and 0.835 seconds behind Verstappen. Track limits caused chaos throughout the weekend, with over 200 breaches on Friday and more than 40 infringements during Saturday’s final practice. FIA race director Rui Marques widened the white lines at Turns 12, 15, and 20 to help drivers, but the issues remained. Asphalt grinding at Turn 19 also addressed bumps that impacted drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Earlier in the weekend, Lewis Hamilton led the final practice session with a time of 1’34.893. Verstappen and Leclerc followed him, though Leclerc lost his best time due to track limits at Turn 10. In FP3, Liam Lawson set a 1’35.931 for Racing Bulls, while Isack Hadjar finished 10th with a 1’35.930. Verstappen also dealt with unsettling downshifts during his session. Hamilton was the only driver to break the 1m35s barrier in the final 20 minutes of the session. Norris, who topped Q1 earlier in the session, finished the day with a 1’35.706. Norris faces a difficult task to make up ground in the race after starting from eighth.