As Motorsport.com reports, Lando Norris has delivered a blunt reality check for everyone in papaya, conceding that McLaren now sits as only the fourth-fastest team in Formula 1 after finishing fifth at the United States Grand Prix.
Out at the Circuit of the Americas, Norris crossed the line behind Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, team-mate Oscar Piastri brought his machine home in seventh place. It is a stunning slide for a squad that was fighting for titles less than a year ago. Yet Norris confirmed that the upgrades coming out of Woking are actually working as intended.
Here is the trouble, though: everyone else is developing too. Ferrari brought upgrades, and rival teams keep delivering. Norris pointed straight at the persistent Achilles' heel of the car, explaining that the upgrades are simply not arriving in the areas they desperately need, particularly in the slow-speed corners where they are nowhere near the required level. The machine needs a lot more rear and slow speed grip, a problem that has lingered for a long time and proven remarkably stubborn to fix. When asked directly if that reality makes McLaren the fourth-quickest car on the grid, Norris did not hesitate: "Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious."
Lacking the raw pace to fight at the front on merit, the team rolled the dice on a bold one-stop strategy, praying for a virtual safety car or a safety car to scramble the order. Norris noted that they had to give it a shot, and for a good chunk of the race, that gamble put them right in contention for a strong podium or even a second-place finish. Even though a fifth-place result does not sound glamorous, he felt the pace was strong and that he extracted everything possible from the chassis.
That strategy left him stranded on aging hard tyres in the closing stages, tasked with holding off Verstappen for several laps before the Red Bull driver—running on fresh, twice-stopped rubber—found a way through. As soon as Verstappen had Overtake mode and Norris was forced to drain his Boost mode to defend, the inevitable happened. Traffic on ancient tyres meant game over, opening the door for everyone else to pile through.
During the grand prix, McLaren also executed a mid-race driver swap. Norris stated that he had been a lot quicker all weekend than Piastri, making the position switch simply the obvious thing to do.
Unfortunately, the consequences for the constructors' championship are severe. McLaren arrived in Austin holding a seven-point advantage over Red Bull in the battle for third place, but thanks to this weekend, both teams now leave level with just five rounds remaining.
