Lando Norris spotted by F1 fans dealing with a ‘horrendous’ problem at the United States Grand Prix

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McLaren driver Lando Norris will be leaving Austin wondering whether he could have won the United States Grand Prix.

It was one of the worst weekends of the season for McLaren after a nightmare Sprint Race saw both of their drivers fail to finish the race.

Oscar Piastri set off a chain reaction after cutting across Nico Hulkenberg, making contact with the Sauber driver, before collecting Lando Norris’ car as he was sent flying up into the air.

Damon Hill spotted Piastri struggling in qualifying, and that continued into the race as he was only capable of finishing fifth.

Norris was more competitive, but even though Max Verstappen couldn’t complete his final lap in qualifying, the 25-year-old wasn’t able to nick pole position.

However, as soon as it was revealed on the grid that Norris was starting on the medium compound tyres and Charles Leclerc was on the softs, McLaren would have recognised that they might have a problem.

The Monegasque driver leapfrogged his rival on the first lap and nearly overtook Verstappen, but Norris’ struggles behind Leclerc were highlighted as a major issue by plenty of fans after the United States Grand Prix.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

F1 fans think Lando Norris’ overtaking skills are ‘horrendous’ after the United States Grand Prix

Leclerc initially had an advantage over Norris, but soon his soft tyres started to fall away.

However, despite being in DRS range for most of the first stint of the race, Norris only finally got past Leclerc on lap 21.

Reacting to Norris’ slow overtake on social media, one fan said: “Norris’ lack of overtaking ability mixed with the lack of top speed is genuinely horrendous to watch.”

“I’ve never seen someone lack as much conviction when it comes to overtaking than Norris,” read another comment.

One message said: “He is doing so well right now. But luckily Norris is also really uncreative when it comes to overtaking moves…” while another fan suggested: “How is Norris incapable of overtaking Leclerc’s toy car?”

Another comment read: “Norris is very cautious about overtaking; he’s ahead of his teammate, so it’s understandable, I suppose, but the longer he takes here, the more likely that Verstappen gets an easy win.”

“Norris overtaking Charles on +20-lap old soft tyres while he’s driving a rocketship. He does not deserve that car!” said another fan, while one comment compared the nine-time race winner to his closest rivals and explained: “Norris has none of the overtaking guile of Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc or Piastri.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Andrea Stella says Lando Norris’ pace was ‘strong’ despite his Charles Leclerc overtaking issues

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella will be starting to wonder whether he needs to prioritise one of his drivers as Verstappen rapidly starts closing the gap in the championship.

Piastri has the points advantage, but Norris is in much better form and appears to be the quicker of the two McLaren drivers at this stage.

Reflecting on the weekend in his official post-weekend media session, Stella said: “Normally, I enjoy victories a bit more, but I think after not having scored any points in the Sprint, it was important today to score strong points.

“Important to finish on the podium, important to confirm that we have a car that is in condition to win still.

“Unfortunately, we could not see that because Lando had to deal with Leclerc pretty much through the entire race, but otherwise the pace was strong.

“Some good points and something to review with Oscar. I am sure Oscar will bounce back to his usual performance in Mexico.”

Norris found a way past Leclerc much more easily during the final stages of the race, but he had softer, newer tyres on and would have been expected to overtake the 28-year-old with relative ease.

Last season, Norris was told why Piastri was a better overtaker, and towards the end of this year, that fact doesn’t appear to have changed.