Lando Norris earned himself a hard-fought fourth place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix, yet the reigning world champion was unwilling to mistake damage limitation for progress as his McLaren team’s recent decline in competitiveness continued to bite.
Having started fifth, Norris spent much of Sunday evening in Marina Bay chasing the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.
A mid-race pit stop briefly put him in position to challenge for the final podium place, but he failed to make his move stick at Turn 1, subsequently allowing Antonelli back through before eventually getting past Hamilton.
The Briton finished fourth, 16 seconds shy of the podium and a substantial 40 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen. For a driver who had celebrated two victories during the summer, the gap made for an uncomfortable reality check.
“I can look at it in two ways,” said Norris. “One, it's not a bad result for us. I think P4 is as good as we were going to get.
“I could have done a better job to fight more for the P3, done a better job fighting against Lewis and positioning my car a bit better and not going off and allowing Kimi to come through.
“Otherwise, a P4 is the best we could achieve today. I'm happy we managed to do that but we want more than what we had today.”
McLaren losing ground on its rivals
Norris’ self-criticism could not disguise the larger concern. McLaren appears to have lost the edge that made it a race-winning force just last month, while Red Bull’s resurgence has shifted the competitive picture at the front.
Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were beyond McLaren’s reach on Sunday, while Antonelli also appeared to have the pace to stay ahead. Norris was left fighting for scraps rather than contesting victory, an uncomfortable position for a team with championship ambitions.
“Red Bull seem like the team to beat and have clearly improved the car a lot over the last few weeks, and we've just slipped to the back of the top four,” said the Briton.
“We're the fourth fastest team, which means that if we finished P4 today we still did a good job and overachieved let's say in terms of car result.
“I'm not happy with a P4, I want a podium and we want to fight for wins. We need to keep trying to improve and bringing upgrades to make the car better.”
Piastri shares the frustration
Oscar Piastri salvaged fifth place, overtaking Hamilton on the penultimate lap after an unscheduled stop for a slow puncture disrupted his afternoon.
Like Norris, the Australian acknowledged that McLaren simply lacked the speed to challenge the leading runners.
“It felt pretty reasonable I would say. I think we just didn't quite have enough pace,” he said.
“We couldn't go with Max and Charles [Leclerc], I think Kimi was a little bit quicker than us as well. There wasn't really too much we could do other than where we ended up.”
Two cars in the top five offered McLaren a respectable points haul, but the mood was hardly one of satisfaction.
Norris’ message was unmistakable: fourth place might have reflected the car’s current potential, but it falls short of what the reigning champion expects. McLaren needs to find performance quickly if it wants to return to the fight at the front.
Read also: Stella brands McLaren clash ‘unacceptable’ as FIA lets drivers off
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