Norris on back foot in Monaco after qualifying eighth in McLaren struggle
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MONACO, June 6 : Reigning world champion Lando Norris’s hopes of back-to-back victories in Monaco always looked fanciful, but he admitted after qualifying eighth for Sunday’s race that he will now need some luck even to threaten the podium.
McLaren have struggled all weekend in their 1,000th Grand Prix and Norris broke down in Friday’s second practice session with an electrical problem that the team’s engineers worked late into the night to fix.
In final practice on Saturday, the Briton was ninth quickest, more than a second off the pace of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.
He narrowed the gap a little in qualifying and might have earned a higher slot but for a lock-up on his final flying lap. He will line up alongside teammate Oscar Piastri on the fourth row.
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“We’ve been on the back foot all weekend and qualifying showed that,” Norris said.
“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.”
On his prospects for Sunday, the 26-year-old suggested the race would be more about gaining some pointers ahead of next week’s Grand Prix in Barcelona.
“We know what’s missing, and it’s better to recognise it now rather than later in the season,” he said.
“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.”
Australian Piastri was also playing down his chances of making a charge on Sunday.
“While we’ve made some progress since Friday and improved the balance of the car, we’re still lacking the speed,” he said.
“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. Anything can happen in Monaco, so let’s see what we can do.”
Source: Reuters
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