'We’ve been on the back foot all weekend," claims Norris after a disappointing qualifying for McLaren in Monaco
McLaren arrived in Monaco hoping to celebrate their 1000th Grand Prix with a strong performance, but qualifying told a more sobering story, with the Woking-based outfit's drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ending up only seventh and eighth quickest, respectively.
While both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris remained consistently inside the top 10 throughout the weekend, the team’s deficit to the frontrunners was clear from the outset.
A chronic lack of grip — the most punishing weakness around the tight, low‑speed streets of Monte Carlo — left both drivers struggling for confidence. As rivals found time with each run, McLaren plateaued, ultimately locking out the fourth row with Piastri in P7 and Norris in P8.
Lando Norris was frank about McLaren’s struggles, admitting that the team simply lacked the performance to challenge the front runners.
“We’ve been on the back foot all weekend and Qualifying showed that. My laps were strong until the last one, where I pushed a bit too much trying to find three tenths and locked up.”
He noted that earlier sessions looked more promising — but only because McLaren were already pushing flat‑out while faster teams were still building up.
“We did make some gains from practice and the earlier sessions looked better, but that was partly because the faster cars were more conservative while we were already flat out.”
Norris emphasised that the team understands the root of the problem: “We know what’s missing, and it’s better to recognise it now rather than later in the season.”
Looking ahead to the race, he was realistic but determined: “Tomorrow we’ll be aggressive on strategy and ready to take chances with Safety Cars or anything that comes our way, but overtaking is tough here, so we have to be realistic.”
“The focus is on improving the car, getting the rear stability and downforce we need, so we can translate the kind of pace we had in Miami to tracks like Barcelona.”
Oscar Piastri echoed Norris’ concerns, describing a weekend defined by limitations rather than opportunities.
“This has not been an easy weekend for us at all. We came here expecting a challenge, and it has definitely been one. The fundamental issue has been a general lack of grip, and while we've made some progress since Friday and improved the balance of the car, we're still lacking the speed.”
Despite that, Piastri felt he extracted everything possible from the MCL38: “From my side, I think we got as much out of the car as we could in Qualifying and we put together some decent laps.”
But like Norris, he was cautious about expectations for Sunday: “Looking ahead to the race, we have to be realistic. This circuit is notoriously difficult for overtaking, and we don't expect that to change.”
Still, he left the door open for Monaco’s trademark unpredictability: “Our focus will be on executing a clean strategy and managing the car as best we can. Anything can happen in Monaco, so let's see what we can do.”
