Lando Norris says McLaren is leaving too much performance stranded on Sepang’s long straights after another qualifying session exposed a weakness the reigning champions have been battling since the start of the 2026 regulations.
Norris could manage only sixth on the grid for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, finishing just 0.005 seconds ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri but a substantial 0.627s behind polesitter Max Verstappen.
The Briton believes the deficit is being amplified by McLaren’s inability to extract everything from its Mercedes power unit.
‘It just hurts seeing this’
Norris felt his qualifying lap itself was strong, making the straight-line deficit all the more frustrating. Asked whether the problem remained linked to the power unit, his answer was unequivocal: “Yeah!”.
McLaren initially struggled with Mercedes’ complex 2026 engine package as a customer team, lacking the manufacturer’s prior knowledge of the new-generation power units.
Updates introduced at Spa in July brought progress, but Sepang has once again highlighted an area where McLaren remains vulnerable.
“I felt like my lap was very strong,” Norris explained. “It's tough. I'm happy because I'm still struggling a lot in the straights everywhere.
“I'm just down on every single straight, so every time I get a good exit, I'm just slower at the end of the straight.
“It just hurts seeing this every single time. I should be higher up, not because I could have done a better job necessarily, but just because we're not getting everything out of the car that we need to.
“That doesn't [only] make my life tough today, but it also makes it tough for tomorrow.”
That final point could prove particularly uncomfortable in a race where Sepang’s lengthy acceleration zones offer repeated opportunities to attack – or expose a lack of straight-line speed.
McLaren knows Sepang exposes its weaknesses
The qualifying result continued what has been a subdued weekend for McLaren. Norris and Piastri were only 11th and 12th in FP1, while neither driver managed better than third in the subsequent practice sessions.
Piastri therefore had little surprise left when qualifying confirmed the team’s limitations, arguing that Sepang’s layout magnifies shortcomings elsewhere.
“We looked reasonable in the long runs yesterday, but our runs were slightly shorter than everyone else,” said Piastri, with McLaren second on the long run averages, two tenths behind Red Bull.
“So for the amount of laps we did, it looks quite good, but not spectacular compared to everyone else.
“Obviously dirty air is a pretty big topic around here because there's a fair bit of high speed and very long corners so we'll have to wait and see.
“There's going to be a lot of strategy involved I think with the amount of deg there is, but I don't expect it to be a wildly different picture tomorrow.”
For Norris, though, the concern is already clear: a car that can produce competitive cornering speed risks being compromised every time it reaches the next straight. And on Sepang’s demanding layout, that could make Sunday a long day.
2026 Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying results
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