Lando Norris issues 'impossible to say' verdict after being crushed by Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris has claimed it is "impossible to say" if his push lap preparation compromised his efforts in sprint qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver will line up third for the one-third distance race at Spa Francorchamps, with Oscar Piastri on pole and Max Verstappen alongside him.

Whilst he was just under one-and-a-half tenths of a second slower than the Red Bull, he was a striking six-tenths adrift of the Australian.

Although conceding it was not the "cleanest" in SQ3, Norris put it down to simply not being "quick enough" to compete with the F1 drivers' championship leader.

He was, however, quick to share his relief that the sizeable gap to Piastri came in sprint qualifying, not the grid-setting session for the grand prix.

"Not quick enough, I guess, is the only thing," the 25-year-old said. "It wasn't the cleanest of laps, but still quite a big gap to the top, you know, so not too disappointed [that] this is just for the sprint, so not a big story. But yeah, some things to work on."

The British driver was seen pushing harder than Verstappen and Piastri on his preparation lap, partly to avoid inadvertently giving the Dutchman a tow.

When it was put to him that this may have compromised his push lap, Norris dismissed the notion, but did confirm he would "look at it" with his team. 

"It's impossible to say, maybe it made my tyres better," he responded. "You know, you don't know those things, but we'll look at it overnight."

The eight-time grand prix winner was nonplussed about the deficit to his McLaren team-mate, waving away concern given the early stage of the weekend.

"Yeah, but it's just Friday, so you know, I'm not too fussed," he stated. "Not the happiest, of course.

"Would like to be a bit quicker than I was today, but it's the way it is, and I just have to do some more work tonight, that's all."