Norris explains pole gap after McLaren drops back

It’s tough for McLaren to accept that its 2026 car isn’t as good as its 2025 predecessor, says Lando Norris, after the team struggled to fight for pole at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Norris topped FP2, while Oscar Piastri was second to George Russell in both FP1 and FP3, but neither driver looked competitive once qualifying started and instead ended up more than 0.3s off pole.

The Briton will start fourth, sharing the second row with title leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while Oscar Piastri will launch from seventh after late improvements from Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

The group of four drivers across the two teams were separated by just 0.089s.

After having been optimistic on Friday night that McLaren’s form had returned at a more conventional circuit after poor performances at outlier tracks in Montreal and Monte Carlo, Norris said McLaren had been found out.

“Just look at their on-board and look at our on-board; I think it's quite easy to see the difference of balance and ease of producing that time,” he said, comparing his McLaren to Russell’s pole-getting Mercedes. “I'm very happy with today.

“I know the gap was small to FP3, but he's in a car that can go 0.3s quicker and I'm in a car that can maybe go 0.05s quicker, maybe 0.1s.

“I'm satisfied with today, and we should be happy as a team.”

McLaren recorded a dominant Piastri-led one-two finish in Spain last year, but Norris said the team had to accept that this year’s car isn’t as good as its forebear.

“We won in Monaco last year, so I think it's tough for us to realize we're not at the same level as what we were," he said.

“We don't have a car that is just good everywhere. We have a car that is pretty good in Miami, pretty reasonable in Canada, not bad here but shocking in Monaco.

“For us to be 0.3s off here, I think it's just a good effort, considering we were 0.6s or 0.7s [off] last weekend.

“That's not a bad thing. No, we're happy. It's P4. The other guys did good laps, but we were definitely unable to achieve that.”

Norris was similarly restrained in his expectations for the race, noting that McLaren was unlikely to have race-winning race pace with a fundamental speed deficit.

“To beat a car that's 0.3s quicker in qualifying is a big task tomorrow in a race where you almost want to drive slower than what you can achieve,” he said.

“They can drive 0.3s slower, look out for the tires and still be quicker than us. I need to push an extra tenth, overheat the tires, push more than them to try and get past them.

“I think it's a race where you don't want to be over-pushing, but it's a race where you're going to have to if you want more than P4.

“We'll fight, but I think we'll also be realistic in what our opportunities are.”