Norris downplays McLaren's F1 chances in US Grand Prix

Lando Norris has admitted that McLaren isn't as confident as recent races over claiming a strong result at the United States Grand Prix.

The Woking-based squad enters the weekend after scoring back-to-back double podiums in Japan and Qatar.

The MCL60 challenger started the year on the back foot but has successfully developed towards the front of the grid during the year.

Despite the impressive progress, it still has weakness in slow-speed corners, which Norris feels will hamper its chances at the Circuit of the Americas.

When asked about his confidence levels ahead of the weekend, Norris told media including RacingNews365: "I'm not so confident.

“[There's] just a lot more slow-speed corners [at COTA as opposed to Qatar] which is not our strength.

“It's tough if we look at Singapore, obviously we were not bad in Singapore - clearly not as strong as Ferrari but still, it was not a bad race.

“But we know on these types of circuits, Mercedes is going to be very strong.

"Ferrari is going to be very strong, Aston Martin, in the past, has been very strong here.

Still a chance

Norris added that McLaren knew pre-event in Qatar that it would be fast, with Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri claiming the win in the sprint race.

Despite highlighting the challenges that COTA poses to McLaren's car, Norris has asserted that he is not counting his team out of the fight.

"We knew when we went to Qatar, it was going be a track which really suited us a lot of medium and high-speed corners, which is where we're very strong and almost on par with Red Bull," he said.

"There's less of [those corners] here and a lot more slow speed [ones], so I'm definitely not as confident but nevertheless, I'm not saying it's going to be a bad weekend.

“I think we can still fight - it's just going to be a much bigger fight [with more drivers and teams involved]."