Lando Norris laments 'useless' McLaren car after 'painful' qualifying

Lando Norris has branded his McLaren "useless" at Monza after a difficult qualifying session consigned him to eighth on the grid for the Italian Grand Prix.

The reigning F1 drivers' champion was actually ninth-fastest at the Temple of Speed, but Kimi Antonelli's power unit penalties will see him move up to the fourth row of the grid.

The MCL40 is struggling with the characteristics of the chassis not suited to the circuit profile of Monza, which is predominantly straights and slow-speed corners.

The car is more aerodynamically draggy than its F1 rivals, and McLaren's gearbox ratios give up roughly 10kph to Mercedes, with the same power unit, in straight-line speed, something that has hindered the Woking-based team this weekend.

That, coupled with the vital need for a good slipstream at Monza, left Norris powerless to salvage another strong qualifying performance after two consecutive pole positions after Oscar Piastri made a mistake at Turn 1 on the final push laps in Q3.

That error from the Australian meant that his team-mate could not be afforded the same benefit he had earlier received, which helped him to third on the grid, behind Pierre Gasly and George Russell.

(Although Piastri has since been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in Q2.)

"I don't think anything didn't work out; it's just that we needed a good slipstream, Norris told media, including RacingNews365, when reflecting on his session and the lock-up from Piastri that ruined his chances of better.

"I had priority in terms of — I had to go out of the pit lane first on Q3 run 1, which meant Oscar had a couple of cars ahead of him, and I just had the one of Antonelli.

"And most of my time loss is just in the straights, so it's nothing I can do. It wasn't my best lap either; I'm not going to deny that, but pretty much the majority of my time is just lost in the straights.

"And, of course, on the second run, it's my time to go behind and get a better slipstream, and that certainly didn't go as I'd hoped.

"So, nothing I can really complain about. We're just unlucky today, and that's the price you pay for being first in a pit lane and having to go out first."

The most 'painful' thing for Norris

However, he rejected the idea that Piastri returning to the track after missing the first chicane cost him any additional time, pointing out that it merely scuppered any possibility of him qualifying higher up the order.

In addition, the 13-time grand prix winner was quick to stress how poorly the MCL40 is suited to the specific requirements of the Temple of Speed.

"It cost me because I had no slipstream; it doesn't matter," Norris added when asked if the sister car going off ahead of him at Turn 1 impeded him.

"We're useless as a car [here]; we're so slow on the straight — we have to have a good slipstream, otherwise we're not quick enough.

"Oscar made use of a good slipstream, and he made it work. My chance never came around, so I just have to take it on the chin."

Norris agreed when asked if it is a perfect storm of factors, across the gear ratios, the drag of the MCL40, its dislike of slow-speed corners and the brake issue he experienced in qualifying.

"Pretty much," he immediately responded, having endured a brake issue from Q1, which left him with little confidence heading into corners.

"I think that the most painful thing this weekend is just a straight-line speed deficit... We needed to be like incredibly close to someone — I had a one-car tow, and I lost two tenths to Oscar, who had a two-car tow. So it's just painful in that sense. But otherwise, it's just what we got to live with for now.

But it's a good example of why I said before that we needed to keep pushing, improving in certain areas, and this was an area we knew we'd not be very strong in."