Lando Norris will have to break an unwanted streak if he is to secure the sort of the result McLaren will want from him at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.
The papaya team has endured some patchy form so far this season, with both their drivers admitting their cars are particularly tricky to drive. While Daniel Ricciardo has largely struggled, though, Norris has still been able to extract consistent results.
He is seventh in the drivers' standings, 43 points better off than his Australian team-mate. Suffering only one DNF, the Brit has also only failed to score points at two of the other nine races so far this year.
A podium at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is certainly the highlight so far, and he came away from the first Sprint weekend of the year with a healthy haul of 19 points in total. At the second, taking place now in Austria, McLaren will hope for another positive result.
But if Norris' career in Formula 1 so far is anything to go by, it might not go that way for the Brit. This is the 11th race of the year, and in each of his three previous seasons in the sport, Norris has failed to finish his 11th race on every occasion.
In 2019, he started from near the back of the grid for changing engine components, but failed to finish anyway as he suffered a loss of power. The following year, the Eifel Grand Prix held no better luck, and last season Norris was taken out in the pile-up caused by Valtteri Bottas in Hungary.
The Brit endured a difficult day on Friday – not ideal preparation for the competitive action. He had very little running time during the only practice session as he could feel too much heat under his seat, while qualifying was a disaster.
Norris shouted over team radio that he was "scared" to use his brakes, and as a result he kept going off the track throughout the session. He scraped through to Q2, but then was unable to finish a hot lap and will start the Sprint race from 15th.
Ricciardo will be one place behind him on the grid, as the Australian exited the process in Q1. He still is struggling to get to grips with his car, as Norris expressed his sympathy and said he understands why his team-mate is having so much trouble.
