Ahead of Saturday’s all-important qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Ralf Schumacher reckons Lando Norris will be feeling “a little scared”.

Although the McLaren driver began his F1 2025 championship with a season-opening pole position, P1 at the Australian Grand Prix which he also won, that’s one of only three front row start positions.

Can Lando Norris shrug off his qualifying jitters in Monaco?

Last time out at Imola, despite going into qualifying as the driver to beat having set the pace in FP3, Norris was only fourth fastest.

He took the blame for that.

“I made a lot of mistakes. Never good enough in my final lap in qualifying, everyone goes quicker and I go slower,” said the Briton, who trails Oscar Piastri by 13 points in the Drivers’ standings.

“Not good enough, the car is mega and it is the best car on track. I’m not going to blame the car. In my whole career qualifying has been my biggest strength by a long way but this year it is not coming my way.”

It’s not the first time this season that Norris has walked away from qualifying dejected, saying he was “just clueless” in Bahrain and a “f**king idiot” in Saudi Arabia where he crashed out of qualifying.

Now it’s onto Monaco, the ultimate qualifying challenge.

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Taking place on the tight, twisty street circuit where drivers have to be millimetre perfect while still attacking the corners, Schumacher says Norris will be feeling the pressure.

“Above all, they have to manage the qualifying lap around here,” the former F1 driver told Sky Germany’s Backstage Boxengasse. “And this applies the most to Lando Norris.

“Here, the pressure on the driver is much, much higher.

“That means someone who is mentally having a hard time getting this to the point is a little more scared here, I say, to make a mistake [and] to go to the limit.

“So, it will be very, very interesting again who is in front.”

Norris was fourth fastest in Friday’s practice on the streets of Monte Carlo, three-tenths off the pace of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Norris concedes that in Monaco, the smallest things can make a huge difference.

“It’s difficult to describe the things,” he said after Friday’s running. But we’re talking small things like, it’s not huge, but when you’re talking about hundredths here and there, it’s small things that add up.

“But it’s just too difficult to get the braking right, to get the cornering right, to get the the tyres, the grip, the feeling all in the perfect window.

“There isn’t one answer for the question there. It’s many different things.”

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