Lando Norris has revealed that he was ‘struggling’ during media day and Friday’s free practice outings at the Singapore Grand Prix after contracting an illness. The McLaren racer admitted he was feeling ‘not optimal’ after qualifying.
Norris won the Singapore GP last year to keep the pressure on Max Verstappen in the title fight, but 12 months later, the tables have turned. The Brit trails team-mate Oscar Piastri by 25 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings, and has the reigning world champion for company 44 points further back.
Making matters worse for Norris has been McLaren’s difficulty dealing with the bumps of the Marina Bay Street Circuit. They lacked the speed to compete with George Russell and Verstappen in the fight for pole position on Saturday.
After stepping out of the car, Norris revealed that he had been struggling with illness in Singapore. “If there’s anywhere you don’t want to be poorly, it’s here,” he explained to Sky Sports F1.
“I’m better today – yesterday and the day before, I was struggling a little bit. It hit me pretty quickly, but it also went away relatively quickly. I’m probably not optimal, but no excuses for today.”
Norris now looks to recover his weekend on Sunday, although with the Marina Bay Street Circuit being one of the toughest to overtake on in F1’s schedule, the Brit has his work cut out. The reward would be a sweet one, though, with the Constructors’ Championship title on offer to McLaren in Singapore.
The Woking squad lead second-placed Mercedes by 333 points heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix and will clinch the silverware as long as they leave Singapore with a 303-point advantage. This means that, even if Russell and Kimi Antonelli were to record a one-two finish, McLaren would only need 13 points to be crowned back-to-back world champions.
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It won’t be easy, though. “Mercedes are doing a good job, Red Bull like we’ve seen have been very good the last few weekends, so nothing is a surprise,” Norris continued. “The only thing, Singapore has always been a bit of a weird one, and we know when we struggle with the front tyres, we struggle as a team.
“I think we understand why we have struggled a little bit with the front of the car not being strong enough, too much understeer and things like that. Then you have to make compromises and give up rear grip for that. It just feels disappointing that we’re not quick enough.
“That’s why it doesn’t matter when you say you dominated one, two or three weekends, when you come here and you’re three-tenths off the pace, it’s too slow and you don’t feel like you’ve done a good job.”