Lando Norris admits McLaren "a long way off the pace" in Malaysia

Lando Norris will start the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia from the P5 grid slot after qualifying sixth, but the McLaren driver has made no secret of the fact that his machine is a long way off the leading pace. Neither Norris nor team mate Oscar Piastri had ever driven at the Sepang International Circuit before this weekend, forcing both drivers to build their speed gradually across Free Practice before the pressure of Qualifying arrived.

When the clocks stopped, Verstappen dominated the session for Red Bull, while McLaren found themselves trailing both Ferrari entries and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli. Norris will at least gain a spot on Sunday's grid thanks to a five-place penalty for an engine change hanging over third-placed qualifier Isack Hadjar. Still, sitting 0.6s away from the benchmark, Norris was frank about the reality of his situation.

"There's not a lot I can do about that," Norris said. "I can only be satisfied with my own job. Yes, we’re a long way off the pace but it's just the way it is. [The] car is struggling." He pointed out that while Mercedes was expected to have strong speed, the sheer pace shown by Red Bull all weekend caught them off guard, suggesting the tarmac might be hurting their package more than anticipated. Even so, he extracted everything he could from the chassis: "My lap was good. So from my side, in terms of putting my sectors together, putting my best lap together, I certainly did that on the final lap. A long way off, but from my own performance, I feel like I did a good job today."

Looking ahead to Sunday, variables like weather and tyre degradation make predicting the grand prix a guessing game, though the Briton expects a brutal fight. With a six-tenths gap to Max and strong performances from both Red Bull machines, it promises to be a challenging afternoon. Norris also flagged an ongoing weakness with the machine, noting that his car remains slow on the straights for reasons the team is still dealing with.

Down the garage, Oscar Piastri endured a similarly tough time, slotting in right behind his team mate in P7. The Australian felt he left time on the table during his final push, pointing to a lack of grip through Turn 2 on his last run that he still needs to understand. Aside from that specific moment, Piastri felt it was a decent session that ultimately suffered from a simple lack of raw speed.

Asked if he can take the fight to the competitors ahead, Piastri was realistic about the climb ahead. While their long run pace showed some promise in practice, the competition looks equally strong, setting the stage for a properly difficult afternoon of racing.