Now, that is a sobering reality check. Lando Norris calmly admitted that fifth on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix is simply "where we should be" as McLaren continue to lose ground to the frontrunners this weekend.
Following a dramatic collision with teammate Oscar Piastri during the day's earlier Sprint that sent both machines spinning, Norris managed to finish just over three tenths adrift of polesitter Max Verstappen. That effort left him behind both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, plus the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli on Saturday.
I think we, to be honest, looked relatively convincingly the third or fourth quickest [car],
Driving this beast on the streets of Marina Bay is an absolute nightmare, according to the reigning World Champion. He noted that the machine is far too much of a challenge, explaining that extracting a fast lap feels like you are almost crashing just to find a purple sector while destroying the tyres in the process.
"Simply the car is too difficult to be in the perfect limit when it's quick and the chance you put a lap together in that limit is basically impossible," Norris stated, adding that he was pushing for it and hoping for more, but it simply did not come together.
On the other side of the garage, Oscar Piastri salvaged seventh place in qualifying after the team successfully repaired his damaged car following the earlier clash with his teammate. The stewards ultimately took no further action over that incident.
Thanks to a grid penalty for George Russell, the Australian will actually start sixth on Sunday. Even so, Piastri conceded that the MCL40 was lacking pure performance compared to Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes around this circuit.
"I think we, to be honest, looked relatively convincingly the third or fourth quickest [car]," Piastri said, admitting it was not the smoothest of sessions with a few mistakes and a machine that is not easy to extract time from.
