Norris issues blunt verdict on McLaren: 'We are just slow'
Photo: Race Pictures
09:51, 05 Jul
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Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Lando Norris was blunt after qualifying for the British Grand Prix. The defending world champion believes he put together a great lap, but the McLaren was simply too slow compared to the Woking-based team's rivals.
After finishing third during the Sprint, Norris was not in contention for pole position on Saturday. "I think I felt like my level was very good. I think we improved the car. We're just further off," the Briton began to GPblog, among others, after Qualifying.
According to the defending world champion, he put together a lap he was happy with. "It's just tough. We didn't have any pace. I was seven tenths off pole and I thought my lap was pretty amazing. I was very happy with my lap. I improved in every single corner and I felt like I got everything out of the car. We're just slow.
"I felt like I got everything out of the car. We're just slow."- Lando Norris
"We're slow in the straights, we're slow in all the corners. There's nothing more I can say about that. The car's not very efficient at the minute, which makes it pretty unbelievable that we finished P3 today [in the Sprint], considering we're 7 tenths off. There's no excuses. The car's not good enough, and we know that. We just have to keep working hard, that's it."
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He added: "It's not often we've been better than P6 this year. This track is the perfect highlight of an efficient car, one that's quick in the straight and is good in corners. We're bad in both. I was four tenths off in Austria in a one-minute track, this is a 1:30, and I'm seven tenths off, so it makes sense. We're not slower, we're just the same."
Norris also does not know why relative performance became worse compared to Sprint Qualifying. "Honestly, I have no idea. I felt happier in the car today. I felt like we got a lot more out of it. Maybe my lap yesterday was just magical and everyone else didn't do a good job. And today all the people did a good job. So I think honestly a little bit that's the case."
Photo: Race Pictures
Norris addresses post-Sprint team radio comments
After the Sprint, Norris mentioned an issue to McLaren over the team radio. The Briton urged the team to 'get something right for once.'
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"Just a few things, to be honest. Some, yeah, don't need to get into it, but some that we should just be doing a better job on. It's quite simple stuff that just limits our performance and limits our potential to get podiums and points when we need to. So just some things we need to do better as a team," he reacted to that incident.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella also said to Sky Sports that his team needs to do better in terms of fuel saving. "We needed to compromise the pace a bit because we were managing fuel and Lando gave us a good reminder because it's the second time in a row we asked the driver to manage fuel. This is not good enough, we need to do better as a team. But Lando compensated for this in a brilliant way," the Italian said.
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British Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 03.07.26
Practice 1
11:30 AM
Sprint Qualification
03:30 PM
Saturday 04.07.26
Sprint Race
11:00 AM
Qualification
03:00 PM
Sunday 05.07.26
Race
02:00 PM
Friday 03.07.26
Practice 1
Fri 11:30 AM
Sprint Qualification
Fri 03:30 PM
Saturday 04.07.26
Sprint Race
Sat 11:00 AM
Qualification
Sat 03:00 PM
Sunday 05.07.26
Race
Sun 02:00 PM
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