Downbeat Lando Norris admits he “just made too many mistakes”

Lando Norris admits he “just made too many mistakes” during qualifying at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris had another tricky qualifying session at Montreal and could only qualify seventh on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix, while McLaren teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri took third.

The Briton missed the final chance on his first lap of Q3 and failed to improve on his final run, leaving him a disappointing P7.

“Not ideal, just too many mistakes,” Norris said. “I hit the wall in the last lap.

“I had confidence, the car felt good today. I just made too many mistakes.”

Asked about his race prospects, Norris replied: “It’s looked good but it’s not been as good as Max.

“We’ve clearly not had an advantage around this track compared to normal. It’s a track where you need a very good ride and ability to take kerbs and bumps and very low grip. We’re still good. The car is still quick.

“The medium tyre was a bit quicker at the end of qualifying but our pace is quick enough, it’s just I’m a bit too far back again.”

Was Lando Norris overdriving?

McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella shed some light on the issues Norris was facing in qualifying.

“With Lando we had been quick in Q1 and Q2, especially Q2 with the used tyres, we seemed to be in a good rhythm,” Stella explained.

“Then going onto the new tyres in Q3 we lost some of this rhythm and we have some work ahead of us tomorrow.”

Asked if Norris was overdriving to find lap time, Stella responded: “I need to look at the data carefully, but after the first set of tyres that looked to be the trend.

“I think we were trying to find a bit too much lap time in braking and this meant that the entire corner goes out of shape if you are braking a little too late.

“This is something we have been working on and there is some data and information to review today for the next races.

"The picture changes completely for the race, that's what we have to focus on.

"I think in terms of race pace we should be a bit more comfortable but let's see.

"This weekend could be one of damage limitation."