Norris says P5 result "is a shame" after qualifying in P3

After Lando Norris earned a fantastic P3 in qualifying on Saturday at the Japanese Grand Prix, there would have been optimism in the McLaren garage and on their pit wall as to what they could achieve in the race around the Suzuka Circuit.

However, with the rapid Red Bulls dominating and earning a 1-2, along with Ferrari's impressive race pace, Norris could only finish in P5. It was a clean race from Norris, who again showed some fantastic pace behind the wheel of his McLaren, with 5th place probably being a fair result with where his team currently is.

Norris says the pace was "just not enough"

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Norris started by saying that it was a "tough race" for himself. "Compared to the Ferrari's, it was just not enough. I think everything fell back in line in terms of Red Bull, Ferrari and us.

"It's a shame. It doesn't feel great when you start third and go backwards. It feels like you are fighting a losing battle against these guys because they can just do a lot more. They can go longer and extend and have a bigger tyre delta. It's hard to fight."

However, even though Norris could not make the most of his fantastic qualifying result, he was still happy with the effort and the result he got from his car and his team. "We gave it a good shot and did what we could. We got the maximum points apart from the top two teams, which was all we could do.

"Ferrari is clearly ahead. They have been ahead all year. They are still ahead. We've not changed anything all year, so there's no reason we should be ahead.”