Lando Norris qualified down in seventh at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday. It’s the third time this season he’s found himself well out of position on the grid.
In Norris’ defence, McLaren have generally lacked pace so far this weekend – certainly compared to their 2025 standards. They were out-of-sorts on Friday and even lead driver Oscar Piastri couldn’t contend with the speed of polesitter George Russell or second-place Max Verstappen.
But Norris should still have been on the front two rows. Instead, he’ll be starting behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
Norris qualified sixth for the Bahrain GP in April after an error-strewn Q3, and then crashed in the same session in Saudi Arabia. He’d improved his Saturday form since, but he’s set up another unwanted comeback drive here.
In an interview this week, Norris hinted that he needs to be more consistent. And this qualifying session perhaps highlighted that weakness once again.
Andrea Stella calls Lando Norris’ Canadian Grand Prix a ‘damage limitation’ exercise
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella spoke to Sky Sports journalist Ted Kravitz immediately after the session. He cast a pessimistic verdict on Norris’ Sunday chances.
Intriguingly, race engineer Will Joseph and performance engineer Andrew Jarvis both addressed Norris on the radio during Q3. They pointed to braking as the main area for improvement.
Stella believes that Norris must prioritise ‘damage limitation’ in the 70-lap race. He’s 10 points behind Piastri and 39 clear of Verstappen.
“The picture changes completely for the race, that’s what we have to focus on,” Stella said. “In terms of race pace, we should be a bit more comfortable. But let’s see, I think this weekend could be one of damage limitation.”
“Damage limitation?” Kravitz replied. “I never like to hear that from any team, but interesting that it’s coming from you.”
Damon Hill’s brutal question for Lando Norris after Montreal woes
Martin Brundle believes Norris needs to find his ‘A-game’ more often to win the title. He’d appeared to be the quicker McLaren driver heading into quali, with Piastri crashing into the Wall of Champions during FP3.
Last year, McLaren insiders said Piastri had a higher ceiling than Norris, and they may have been proven right in recent months. But equally, one could argue that the Australian isn’t facing the absolute best version of his teammate right now.
Damon Hill asked Norris what he was doing in a rather brutal social media post on Saturday evening. McLaren have introduced upgrades this weekend but they don’t appear to have addressed the 25-year-old’s lingering discomfort.
Norris chose to run with the team’s new suspension during qualifying, while Piastri stuck with the older model.
