25/07/2025 19:20
Lando Norris has claimed it is "impossible to say" if his push lap
preparation compromised his efforts in sprint qualifying at the
Belgian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver will line up third for the
one-third distance race at Spa Francorchamps, with Oscar Piastri on
pole and Max Verstappen alongside him. Whilst he was just under
one-and-a-half tenths of a second slower than the Red Bull, he was
a striking six-tenths adrift of the Australian. Although conceding
it was not the "cleanest" in SQ3, Norris put it down to simply not
being "quick enough" to compete with the F1 drivers' championship
leader. He was, however, quick to share his relief that the
sizeable gap to Piastri came in sprint qualifying, not the
grid-setting session for the grand prix. "Not quick enough, I
guess, is the only thing," the 25-year-old said. "It wasn't the
cleanest of laps, but still quite a big gap to the top, you know,
so not too disappointed [that] this is just for the sprint, so not
a big story. But yeah, some things to work on." The British driver
was seen pushing harder than Verstappen and Piastri on his
preparation lap, partly to avoid inadvertently giving the Dutchman
a tow. When it was put to him that this may have compromised his
push lap, Norris dismissed the notion, but did confirm he would
"look at it" with his team. "It's impossible to say, maybe it made
my tyres better," he responded. "You know, you don't know those
things, but we'll look at it overnight." The eight-time grand prix
winner was nonplussed about the deficit to his McLaren team-mate,
waving away concern given the early stage of the weekend. "Yeah,
but it's just Friday, so you know, I'm not too fussed," he stated.
"Not the happiest, of course. "Would like to be a bit quicker than
I was today, but it's the way it is, and I just have to do some
more work tonight, that's all."
