Norris ‘hopeful’ recent straight-line speed issue will be cured in Singapore as he admits McLaren ‘need to do a better job’

Lando Norris has offered an honest assessment of McLaren’s last two race weekends, stating that he and the team have “underperformed” and “need to do a better job” moving forward.

Boosted by mid-season updates, Norris charged to three out of four pole positions, and two race victories, across the Budapest, Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid rounds – raising McLaren’s hopes for the final phase of the campaign.

However, the last two events at Baku and Sepang served as a reality check for the Woking-based team, with neither Norris nor team mate Oscar Piastri making it onto the podium, and the Briton being plagued by unspecified straight-line speed issues.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari all appeared to have superior raw pace, leaving McLaren to scratch their heads and come up with some answers ahead of this weekend’s visit to Singapore.

Asked about the learnings from Sepang during Thursday’s media activities at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Norris said: “Oh, there were a fair few, both from my side, and from us as a team. Obviously from what happened in the race, but also just general things from a car point of view and what we need to do a better job in, and how can we get back to the same level as we were in the previous few: Budapest, Zandvoort and Madrid.

“So, the team have been working very hard, we’ve all worked very hard to understand what we could learn from last weekend, what we can and need to do better in. The exact things, the specifics of it, I don’t need to go into, but there was a good amount.

“There were some obvious ones, such as the straight-line speed, and the issues I’ve been having with the car, and obviously more technical ones, [like] how can we unlock more potential from the car to get back to the performance that we had previously. That’s a tricky one to do.”

As for whether some of McLaren’s deficit at Sepang was track-specific, Norris continued: “Well, at Baku we weren’t necessarily too quick either, so I wouldn’t say just a Malaysia thing. There are certainly some aspects of Malaysia, with the roughness of the tarmac, that we think does play a part.

“It’s a good thing for us to see this weekend if some of the performance that we were missing there does come back. Singapore is a track I’ve enjoyed, and we’ve been pretty good here over the last few years.

“Certainly, a little bit of it is track layout, and the last couple of tracks have not been to the same strengths as what we’ve seen in Madrid and some of the other races, but all in all we’ve still been underperforming to the level we need to and we want to be, so we still need to do a better job no matter what.”

Norris was then asked about the work McLaren have been carrying out in a bid to get on top of the specific straight-line speed issue he has been facing over the last couple of events, with the Briton “hopeful” things will be back to normal this time out.

“We need to get it on track first and see how much better [it is],” added Norris, who claimed pole and the race win in Singapore in 2024, as well as podium finishes in 2023 and 2025. “It’s obviously also a circuit where straight lines are not like the highest priority, and not as detrimental as the last few weekends.

“Nevertheless, you always want to go down the straights as quickly as what you should be able to. It’s always tough when you come out of corners better and end up going slower. It’s been a frustrating two weekends trying to figure out what the issue has been and why there’s just been a constant lack of straight-line speed and performance.

“Especially in this kind of battle we’ve been in [at the front of the grid], the last two Qualifyings it’s been [a difference of] two or three positions, so it’s cost me quite a lot. At the same time, there’s obviously things I can do better as well.

“I’m confident that the team have done a good job. They’ve put a lot of work into trying to figure out things. I’m hopeful that it will be better this weekend, but honestly I have to get out on track and see first.”

McLaren head into the Singapore weekend holding third position in the Teams’ Championship standings on 316 points, behind Ferrari on 405 and leaders Mercedes on 556, and just 18 points ahead of fourth-placed Red Bull.