Lando Norris: McLaren on the back foot after difficult start to United States GP in Austin

Lando Norris has pointed to an advantage that he feels his rivals will have for the United States Grand Prix tomorrow.

The McLaren driver is set to start the race at the Circuit of The Americas in P2 behind four-time champion Max Verstappen in pole position, but Norris has identified an advantage those around him may have after he crashed out of the sprint race at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

Norris was caught up in the crash involving his team-mate Oscar Piastri, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

“I think quite a bit, honestly, because we’ve not done, I don’t think I’ve done more than three laps in a row and not more than like 40 kilos of fuel,” Norris explained the advantage of the other frontrunners. “So I have no idea. We don’t know if it’s going to be amazing, terrible, around here because it’s so difficult with the bumps and the bottoming and the winds.

“It’s unpredictable. So we were hoping to learn a lot this morning in the sprint in terms of how the car set-up was going to be from quali to race and how it changes, and the things that are good and bad and then hopefully make tweaks for this quali for the race tomorrow. But obviously, that didn’t go to plan.

Lando Norris, McLaren crash

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

“So, yeah, we’re certainly on the back foot. But I guess we will try not to use it as an excuse tomorrow.”

Norris is currently fighting for his first championship win. While it was looking as though it was going to be a battle purely between the two McLaren drivers for some time, Verstappen, who recently won the Azerbaijan and Italian Grands Prix and the United States sprint race, is putting pressure on Norris and Piastri.

Heading into the United States Grand Prix, Piastri leads Norris with a 22-point gap and Verstappen trails the latter by 33 points.

Photos from United States GP – Saturday

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