Norris: "I made a mistake", and McLaren is "just not…

Lando Norris held his hands up as his own mistakes left the early championship leader qualifying down in sixth for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

After winning in Australia last weekend, Norris had been towing a fine line between admitting McLaren was the team to beat while also attempting to temper expectations of just how quick the car is.

Norris, whose team-mate Oscar Piastri will start the sprint from third, discussed on Thursday how the car does not suit his driving style but in Shanghai it was two small mistakes on both runs that left him off the pace in sprint qualifying.

“I made a mistake. I locked up in the last corner,” he said. “But we're just struggling a bit more now. Just not quick enough, simply. Struggling a lot with the car.

“It’s more on me rather than the car. I can't make the car perfect. But, no, this was me just trying to just push a bit too much.

Lando Norris, McLaren (Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images)

“So [I] just need to back off a little bit and not try to push too much. I think the car's still good and in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole. But we can definitely go forward.”

Norris pointed to the windy conditions across the Shanghai International Circuit as making the McLaren more difficult to drive.

“Our difficulties that we've been struggling with showed a lot more today. So nothing more than that, honestly. Just too many mistakes, it is just too difficult of a car to drive,” he added.

“I think just throughout the day we've been struggling a bit with the front locking and struggling a lot in the last corner with all the tailwinds. So it is kind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain [pre-season testing]. Just a lot windier when the wind's blowing, then we struggle a lot more.

“So I think both myself and Oscar struggled more, clearly me more than him. So, yeah, just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for not quite being quick enough.”

Having looked by far the quickest squad, neither McLaren could hook up a fast enough lap in SQ3 as Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Ferrari with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joining him on the front row.

Piastri bemoaned the strategy to run earlier than their rivals in SQ3 but is still hopeful of a strong showing in Saturday’s sprint race.

“I think we were probably quick at the wrong points of it, unfortunately,” he said.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

“SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, and then SQ3, we tried something a bit different and went out much earlier and tried two laps, which I'm not sure was the best thing in the end, but I think it's something we need to have a look at.

“I think the pace in the car is still very strong and I'm still confident to fight from third. It has been difficult, I think, with the track surface, it's got a lot of grip, but it's very peaky and I think it's been pretty tough all day to just keep on top of the car.

“I honestly think we did a good job of trying to tame it for sprint qualifying, just maybe got the run plan a bit wrong.

“So it's been an interesting challenge. The grip has been a lot better than last season, which is nice, and I think there's some things we can do better tomorrow.”