Lando Norris has exposed a key McLaren weakness at the Chinese Grand Prix after an error cost the Briton sprint pole.
The McLaren driver will start the first sprint race of the 2025 F1 season from fifth on the grid, following a lock-up in the closing stages of his final lap.
He was five-tenths of a second slower than Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who claimed a shock sprint pole position – his first since the 2021 British Grand Prix.
Norris was the favourite for sprint pole going into the session after he topped the only practice session of the event.
The 25-year-old accepted that he made a costly mistake but insisted that McLaren had struggled on the opening day of the Chinese GP.
“I made a mistake, I locked up in the last corner,” revealed Norris. “We just struggled a bit more now, just not quick enough.
“Simply struggled a lot with the car. Just our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today.
“So nothing more than that, honestly, just too many mistakes, but just too difficult of a car to drive.”
McLaren’s wind woes
Remarkably, Norris revealed a specific area of weakness for McLaren this weekend. He explained that the MCL39 suffers in windy conditions, which were present in Shanghai.
A tail wind caught several drivers out across the entirety of the opening day, in particular in the first and final corners.
According to Norris, the Woking-based team struggle in windy conditions, potentially making it a beatable outfit for Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.
“Just throughout the day we’ve been struggling a bit with the front locking, and struggling a little bit in the last corner with all the tail wind, so kind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain,” added Norris.
“Just a lot windier, when the winds blowing we struggle a lot more. So I think both myself and Oscar [Piastri] struggled more, clearly me more than him.
“Just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for not quite being quick enough.”
