Lando Norris
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Lando Norris enjoyed his best qualifying result of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix, but he admits that he is still behind the curve.
The McLaren driver managed P5 at Suzuka, having qualified sixth in Australia and China. Norris needs a strong result at the Japanese Grand Prix after a torrid start to the season.
The MCL40 is not on the level of the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari, with McLaren struggling to get the best out of the power unit in 2026. Norris and Oscar Piastri recorded a double DNS in Shanghai after separate mechanical issues.
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David Coulthard senses Norris’ ‘simmering’ unhappiness with F1 and the new regulations. The Brit has openly spoken out about the new ruleset and his struggles with the new cars.
Suzuka has at least shown that McLaren are making progress, with Piastri in P3 and Norris in P5 in qualifying. However, the latter has admitted that he is still behind.
Lando Norris says he’s ‘one or two steps behind’ at Japanese Grand Prix
Norris suffered hydraulic issues in practice, limiting his mileage. He recovered a strong result on Saturday, but he says he is still ‘one or two steps behind’.
“To be ahead of one of the Ferraris after the weekend we’ve had, I think I’m pretty happy about that,” he said in the media pen, via F1.com.
“It’s been difficult watching the TV more than driving in the car this weekend, or the season actually. Not been our weekend so far but I was a bit happy with Quali and just getting a few more laps under my belt and getting comfortable.
“Just always one or two steps behind and as soon as I do something better then I need to fix somewhere else. It’s just painful but I think it could have been a lot worse with the amount of laps I’ve done. I’m happy. We’re in a good position and we’ll see how we do in the race.”
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Lando Norris felt he was ‘two or three steps behind’ after practice at Suzuka
Norris has at least made progress since Friday. Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm spoke to Norris after practice, and the Brit said he was ‘two or three’ steps behind.
“It’s potentially the first manifestation this weekend of what Andrea Stella, the team principal of McLaren’s been saying for a while and reiterated in today’s press conference that he believes that this is a car with a lot of potential,” he said via The Race YouTube channel.
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“It’s just they’ve been underperforming. They obviously didn’t start with either car in China. So it might be that we start to see the real McLaren for the first time properly this weekend.
“It is only one McLaren that’s had a smooth day. Piastri’s looked really comfortable, Norris held back by a hydraulic leak of some kind and was very unhappy.
“I spoke to him after FP2. He feels that he’s two or three steps behind and had a pretty terrible start to the weekend.”
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