Bahrain Grand Prix 2025: Lando Norris perplexed by the performance
Lando Norris said he felt “in the dark” and “as if I had never guided a Formula 1 car before” after qualified in sixth place for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Teammate McLaren British Oscar Plastri took pole position, while Norris was 0.426 seconds slower than the Australian.
Norris said: “There are no big complaints. The car is incredible. The car is as good as the whole season, which is strong.
“Only I have been out of the weekend. I don’t know why. At the moment in the dark. I don’t know. I just need a great restoration, that’s all.”
The 25 -year -old leads the world championship of a point from Max Verstappen of Red Bull and is 13 in front of Piastri before Sunday’s race.
Verstappen qualified Settimo, while Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, George Russell of Mercedes, Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the second Mercedes by Andrea Kimi Antonelli are between Norris and piastri on the grid.
Norris said: “I don’t know how to approach it. I can’t understand it. Every time I try something, it’s okay for a session and then it’s the wrong thing for the next session because the wind has changed and I can’t flow with the car. And when I can’t flow, I’m not very fast.
“I just have to work on myself. I can’t criticize the team and the car is the best long -lasting. But I am clearly not only clicking at the moment.”
Andrea Stella, principal of the McLaren team, said that Norris has suffered from a weakness that has afflicted him since the beginning of the season, as he is struggling to extrapolate the best from the car in qualifying due to some management characteristics he has.
Stella said: “Lando is a very fast driver, a naturally fast driver with an incredible craftsmanship. It is more a phase, I think, when it comes to Q3, putting the tour together, which has not worked very well recently, but this is a short phase.
“It is right now at this temporary phase in which, while pushing the car to the limit, there are some things that do not go exactly as expected and when you go for 0.1 seconds more in Q3, this becomes more visible.
“We understand what it is. It will only require a little adaptation from Lando himself and some adaptations of the team. But I think the understanding is good and we are very optimistic that this will be resolved.”
Stella said that the problem does not manifest itself in the races, when the pilots do not push strong.
“This does not affect the rhythm of the race,” said Stella. “In practice, Lando has already shown a very strong tour in the race simulations, so I really can’t wait to see Lando finding the way back tomorrow at the front of the pack.”
