Lando Norris has warned that McLaren has slipped to the bottom of Formula 1’s leading four teams after a difficult Singapore Grand Prix weekend. The reigning world champion finished fourth at Marina Bay, while Oscar Piastri recovered to fifth after an additional pit stop caused by a slow puncture, but both drivers admitted the car lacked the pace to fight consistently with the front-runners.
McLaren left Singapore with fourth and fifth place in the Grand Prix, results that only partially eased the disappointment of the contact between its two cars during Saturday’s Sprint. Norris had fought for the podium before being passed by Kimi Antonelli while battling Lewis Hamilton, while Piastri had to recover after the slow puncture compromised his race.
Lando Norris says McLaren is now fourth-fastest among F1’s top teams
Lando Norris crossed the line fourth, 16 seconds away from the podium and 40 seconds behind the winner. Although he accepted that fourth place was effectively the best result available to McLaren on the day, he was clear that the team’s recent decline in competitiveness is a concern.
“I can look at it in two ways. On one hand, it is not a bad result for us: fourth place is the maximum we could have achieved today,” Lando Norris said. “I could have done a better job to fight for third, battled Lewis better, positioned the car a little better and avoided running wide, which allowed Kimi to get back past me.”
“Apart from that, fourth position was the maximum achievable today. I’m happy that we managed it, but we want more than what we had.”
Assessing the competitive order at Marina Bay, Norris offered an even more direct verdict on McLaren’s current position relative to its rivals.
“Red Bull looks like the team to beat and has clearly improved the car a lot in recent weeks, while we have slipped to the bottom of the leading four. We are the fourth force, which means that finishing fourth today means we did a good job, even going beyond the car’s real potential.”
“But I cannot be happy with fourth place: I want the podium and we want to fight for victories. We have to keep pushing and bring upgrades to make the car faster.”
Oscar Piastri admits McLaren lacked pace in Singapore
Oscar Piastri shared the same frustration after finishing fifth. His race included an extra pit stop because of a slow puncture, followed by a late recovery that culminated in an overtake on Lewis Hamilton.
“The feeling in the car was quite good, but we simply lacked pace,” Oscar Piastri said. “We were not able to keep up with Max and Charles, and I think Kimi was also a little faster than us. There was not much more we could have done beyond where we finished.”
Despite the setback caused by the puncture, Piastri found a positive in the way the race unfolded, particularly because the additional stop ultimately helped bring him back into contention with Hamilton.
“Personally, I think I did a very good job. Obviously, the puncture was a shame, but ironically I think it helped me catch Lewis at the end. So there is always a positive side to everything.”
“Considering how quickly I was closing, I would have been pretty disappointed in myself if I had not managed to overtake him. It was an exciting moment, which was good because the rest of the race was fairly lonely.”
Norris apologises for Sprint collision with Piastri
The Singapore weekend was also defined by the controversial contact between the two McLarens in the Sprint. On the penultimate lap, Norris attempted to take fourth place from Piastri under braking for Turn 5 and hit his team-mate, forcing the Australian to retire.
Andrea Stella strongly criticised the incident afterwards, and while Norris initially defended the move as a legitimate attempt immediately after the Sprint, he later changed his position and apologised to the team.
“The issue is very simple: I should not have tried a move like that,” Lando Norris said. “I should never have attempted it in the first place, even though the space was there.”
“I simply have to think about the team I represent before myself. It was my mistake, I let the team down and that is why I apologised to all of them. It was the right thing to do and next time I will do better.”
Andrea Stella welcomes Norris team-first approach
The incident also influenced Norris’s approach late in Sunday’s Grand Prix. During the closing stages, he offered to slow down in order to help Oscar Piastri close in on Lewis Hamilton.
Andrea Stella welcomed that attitude and underlined McLaren’s expectation that the interests of the team should come before those of any individual.
“We must be aware that, whether at the factory, in the pit lane or in the cockpit, the interests of the team take priority over those of individuals,” Andrea Stella said. “There is still a lot of work to do to become an even more united and stronger team.”
“That is what I, and everyone who works at McLaren, expect from our drivers. I really appreciated Lando’s words during the closing stages of the race and I expect to see more examples of that attitude in the future, whether expressed over the radio during the race, behind closed doors in our meetings or during strategy discussions.”
McLaren heads into break needing a response
McLaren has appeared to be under greater pressure than the other three leading teams in recent races, and Singapore reinforced that concern. With the championship heading into a short break before the next run of races in the Americas, the team now has an opportunity to analyse why it has lost relative performance.
Norris’s assessment was clear: McLaren can still execute strongly enough to outperform the car’s underlying potential on a given weekend, but that will not be enough if the team wants to return to regular podium and victory contention.
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