Lando Norris has openly expressed his uncertainty about whether McLaren will manage to eliminate a lingering problem with his car that is sapping straight‑line speed as the team approaches the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. The British driver, who entered the season with a spectacular run – securing three pole positions and two race wins in the four events that straddled the summer hiatus – has seen his form dip dramatically in the two races that followed, in Azerbaijan and Malaysia. In both of those outings Norris could only manage a fifth‑place qualification, and his race results were even less encouraging: a crash forced him out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while a chaotic performance in Malaysia – the Bahrain Grand Prix held at the Sepang International Circuit – left him finishing ninth after a series of mistakes.
The root cause of the speed deficit remains a mystery for the McLaren engineers. What is clear, however, is that the problem has manifested itself in a way that makes Norris slower than his teammate Oscar Piastri on certain sections of the Sepang track.
The performance gap translates to roughly two tenths of a second per lap, a figure that may appear modest but becomes excruciatingly painful when multiplied over the 55‑lap sprint format that Singapore will host. When asked by Sky Sports F1 whether the team could remedy the issue in time for the upcoming sprint weekend, Norris replied bluntly: "I have no idea. The team are trying but I'm losing almost two tenths a lap.
Two tenths a lap over 55 laps is just painful as hell. It's making my life pretty damn difficult." He went on to acknowledge that the problem was not solely technical.
"There are also other things. In Malaysia I could have done better. I can't just have that.
That's not just an excuse," he said, indicating that driver error and perhaps strategic missteps also contributed to the sub‑par showing. Norris added that both he and the team needed to improve, hinting at a collaborative effort to close the performance gap. Team principal Andrea Stella echoed the sentiment, noting that while McLaren had shown flashes of competitiveness earlier in the season – notably when an upgrade package delivered Norris his first pole and victory of the year at the Hungarian Grand Prix – the pace of development among rival teams seemed to have accelerated.
"We see a scenario in Formula 1 which seems to be changing pretty rapidly," Stella explained. He recalled the optimism after Hungary and Zandvoort, where McLaren appeared capable of challenging for pole and even race wins.
"Then very rapidly and interestingly, as we took upgrades as well, the picture changes. I think we have to take a look at our own development. We don't see any anomaly in our data, but we have to acknowledge that potentially some competitors have developed their car with bigger steps than we did." The challenges in Malaysia were compounded by the extreme heat and the abrasive nature of the Sepang surface, conditions that are not typical of most circuits on the calendar. Stella suggested that these unique variables might have amplified the car's deficiencies, offering a glimmer of hope that the cooler, more predictable environment of Singapore could be kinder to the McLaren package.
"There are very specific conditions in Malaysia, so I think we should give ourselves more time," he said. "I'm sure this is the same kind of review that we'll have next door at Mercedes. It's a very special condition in Malaysia, so I think we have to understand better the behaviour of the cars." He added that the team needed to analyse the upgrades they had introduced and see how they behaved under different track characteristics.
"I'm personally not in condition to say if Singapore will be now more suitable or not, because from a track layout point of view, we thought that Sepang would be a decent circuit for us. This is because of the uncertainty caused by the new scenario from a competitiveness point of view, but also because we might have to understand a bit better the upgrades that we took ourselves, and Singapore will give us a better answer." The upcoming Singapore event is particularly significant because it will host the final sprint weekend of the season, adding an extra layer of pressure for teams to extract every ounce of performance. For McLaren, the sprint format offers a chance to recover some lost points, but it also magnifies any lingering speed deficits.
Norris's candid remarks underscore the mental strain such a deficit can cause on a driver who is accustomed to fighting at the front of the grid. Beyond the immediate technical concerns, the situation highlights the broader competitive dynamics in Formula 1.
While McLaren entered the year as defending constructors' champions, the rapid development cycles of rivals like Mercedes and Red Bull have reshaped the hierarchy. Max Verstappen's dominant win in Malaysia, for instance, demonstrated Red Bull's continued upward trajectory, while George Russell's commanding performance for Mercedes in Azerbaijan reminded everyone that the traditional powerhouses are still very much in the mix. In summary, Norris remains uncertain about McLaren's ability to resolve the straight‑line speed issue before Singapore, and both driver and team principal have acknowledged the difficulty of the task. The unique conditions in Malaysia may have exaggerated the problem, giving the team some optimism that Singapore's track could be more forgiving.
Nevertheless, with only a sprint weekend to test any fixes, the pressure is on McLaren to deliver a solution that restores Norris's confidence and puts the team back into contention for podiums as the season draws to a close.