Lando Norris makes damning McLaren admission after Singapore duel

Lando Norris believes McLaren is now firmly the "worst of the top four teams" after missing out on a podium in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris finished fourth at Marina Bay, having been set for a podium place if he was able to pass the ailing Lewis Hamilton late on as the Ferrari's tyres fell off a cliff. 

However, the reigning champion was unable to get past the seven-time one at first, with champion-elect Kimi Antonelli slicing past as both Britons ran wide, with Norris then losing another lap behind Hamilton before finally getting past - by which time Antonelli was 3.2s up the road.

Norris then settled for fourth, but ended 15.9s behind Antonelli as McLaren's recent upturn in form with dominant wins in Hungary, the Netherlands, and a convinving pole in the Spanish GP  has cooled over the triple-header, with McLaren now firmly having its sights set on fending off a resurgent Red Bull for third in the constructors', as opposed to trying to hunt down Ferrari for second.

McLaren is now just seven points clear of Red Bull - with Max Verstappen having a maximum haul of 58 points from the previous two races and Singapore Sprint. 

Reflecting, Norris felt that the MCL40 had slipped back down the pecking order compared to the Ferrari SF-26 and Red Bull RB22 machines.

"I mean unless we bring upgrades, and we don't have anything planned for a little bit, at the minute, we're fourth fastest," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

"We're at the back of the top group, which is closer than we were at the beginning of the year, and we can still fight pretty well.

"We're still fighting for the top four and almost for a podium, but we're still too far off and we're the worst of the top four teams, so we have to keep trying to upgrade the car."

Later, speaking to media including RacingNews365, Norris felt fourth was the maximum result possible. 

"I think the result was as good as we could achieve today. I think I could have achieved it in a better way and at least put up a good fight with Kimi," he said.

"Both me and Lewis obviously wanted to see who would break later into Turn 1, he didn't even brake into Turn 1, so this kind of meant I was also going off. But I could have, I think, put up a better fight with Kimi in that case, and could have fought for a podium. 

"So I could have done a better job in trying to achieve the result we had. But I think he would have passed me no matter what, and fourth was the best we could do."