Lando Norris has conceded there are "five or six teams" faster than McLaren despite scoring points at the Monaco Grand Prix. Both Norris and rookie teammate Oscar Piastri benefitted from brake issues for AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda in the closing stages of the 78-lap race around the streets of the principality - each move being made around the outside into Sainte Devote - to finish ninth and tenth. Briton Norris qualified tenth having been impeded by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, this after speedy repair works to the front-left following contact with the inside barrier exiting the Nouvelle Chicane in Q2. The points came at the end of a weekend that Norris featured regularly in the top 10 of the timesheets, though his footing in the standings steadily slipped from session to session. Assessing McLaren's performance, Norris told media, including RacingNews365.com : "I wouldn't say it was anything special, honestly. "The AlphaTauri was a lot quicker. How much quicker [Tsunoda] was, he should have been quicker [in qualifying]. I don't believe we had a quicker car on either day. "Mixed feelings I guess. There are five or six teams that are quicker than us, AlphaTauri might be a little more on par with us but were a little quicker this weekend. "Alpine are considerably ahead of where we are. "Little things to take away. I wouldn't say any big positives, I wouldn't say the car was mega."
The result was a welcome turnaround from a nightmarish weekend in Miami where McLaren failed to secure a points finish. But Norris warned the seemingly positive performance was masked by his early speed whilst rivals built up to maximum attack. "We just did a good job at getting up to speed, everyone takes a long time to get up to pace," explained Norris. "That is why we looked very good in FP1, FP2 but the further into the weekend we got, the worse we got. That is why we ended up where we did."
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