Norris encouraged by McLaren's pace despite Belgian GP grid penalty

Lando Norris believes McLaren is moving in the right direction after qualifying third for the Belgian Grand Prix, although a 10-place grid penalty will drop the reigning Formula 1 world champion to 13th on Sunday's starting grid.

Norris was one of the standout performers throughout the Spa-Francorchamps weekend, topping Q1 and remaining firmly in the fight for the fastest qualifying time. While the Briton ultimately secured third with a lap of 1:44.801, his grid penalty means he will start well outside the top 10 despite demonstrating race-winning pace.

The McLaren driver was delighted with his qualifying performance, saying the team had extracted everything possible from the MCL40.

"I am very happy to have qualified P3 today," Norris said. "We had a pretty amazing start to Q3, we extracted absolutely everything from the car and were able to put it all together.

"Unfortunately, the 10-place penalty means we won't be starting there, but it's nice to see that we are moving in the right direction and it's encouraging for the future when we are able to bring bigger upgrades."

Norris also praised Mercedes and polesitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli, admitting the result came as no surprise given the Silver Arrows' pace throughout the weekend.

"Mercedes on pole isn't a surprise, so congratulations to Kimi Antonelli," he said.

"We can still take positives though – we are clearly quicker than quite a few of the other cars in front of us on the grid, so we're hoping to make some overtakes and hopefully get back in the race closer to the front of the grid. We will see what we can do."