Lando Norris expressed his frustration after qualifying eighth for the 2026 United States Grand Prix, despite feeling that a front-row start was within reach. His performance fell short of his own expectations, especially after a track limits penalty affected his final position.
During the qualifying session at Circuit of the Americas, Norris initially set a time that placed him sixth in Q3. However, this lap was deleted due to exceeding track limits at Turn 19, which dropped him down to eighth on the grid. He shared that he had done “a very bad job” in qualifying, acknowledging that the result did not reflect the potential pace of the McLaren MCL40.
The McLaren driver described the MCL40 as “insanely difficult to drive,” calling it the hardest car he has piloted so far. Despite the challenges, Norris believed the car was capable of securing second place in qualifying. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, also faced difficulties and was not as competitive as he had hoped, with both drivers ending up on the fourth row.
McLaren brought a final upgrade package to the United States Grand Prix, which included changes to the front suspension geometry and diffuser. Norris noted that while these updates offered some improvement, the car still remained difficult to perfect, particularly in slow-speed corners. He highlighted the third sector at COTA as a weak point for the team’s car.
Qualifying saw Norris about one second behind polesitter Kimi Antonelli and 0.835 seconds off second-placed Max Verstappen. Despite topping Q1 on soft tyres while many others ran mediums, Norris had to lower his expectations from aiming for pole to settling for a fifth-place target in the race. He remains hopeful of a strong points finish despite the setback in qualifying.
The session underlined the ongoing challenges McLaren faces in extracting consistent performance from the MCL40, with Norris’s comments reflecting his personal assessment of the weekend’s qualifying. The result left the team with work to do on race pace and handling as they look to improve their competitiveness in the championship.