McLaren star Lando Norris (3rd): “We’re simply not fast enough”

In the sprint qualifying session, Lando Norris once again demonstrated impressive pace. The McLaren star came within 41 thousandths of George Russell’s pole time, thereby securing a place on the front row of the grid. He managed to hold onto second place for much of the mini-race. However, in the end he was pipped to the post by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.

The Monegasque driver overtook him on the 18th lap, securing second place. Norris finished third and said: “It’s not a bad result, but it’s not the best either.” The world champion sighed: “It would have been nice if we’d been able to drive a bit faster. But Charles was simply too fast.”

And Norris noted: “I don’t think it’s the tyres; we’re simply lacking the necessary speed. We’re not fast enough, so we’ve still got some work to do.” He knows which sections of the track are costing them the most time: “We’re very strong in the high-speed corners, but in all the other sections the car simply isn’t at the level it needs to be. It’s been like that all weekend so far.”

And the twelve-time Grand Prix winner emphasised that he does not expect a quick improvement: “There isn’t much we can do about it, because that’s just the way this car is. We’re optimising a great many things and we have to be satisfied with the progress we’re making. We simply need more power. We’re already working very hard and I hope we can do an even better job. The upgrades we’ve brought are working as we’d hoped. But we need to keep pushing to improve further.”

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Zandvoort: Qualifying

FIA Formula One World Championship

22.08.2026 - 15:30