Lando Norris told what his "biggest concern" should be - it's not Max Verstappen

Lando Norris has been pointed towards his "biggest concern" after sprint qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren driver Norris arrived at Spa riding high on the momentum of back-to-back victories in Austria and Britain. But he faltered at the first opportunity, ending Friday’s session not only behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but also significantly adrift of Piastri, who secured pole for Saturday’s sprint.

While Norris not matching the upgraded Red Bull of Verstappen was a cause of worry, the 25-year-old’s final lap was also 0.618s down on Piastri’s pole-setting effort. 

Lando Norris trailing Oscar Piastri at Spa

This represented the widest gap between the McLaren pair this year, excluding the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying in which Norris couldn’t set a timed lap after crashing in Q3.

“[Verstappen being ahead of Norris] is a detail,” said Sky Sports' Naomi Schiff. “His bigger concern is that his teammate is six tenths up the road.

“He’s been doing hard work in the background. But while maybe on the surface he appears calm, I think no driver in this situation would be calm. They could be running something slightly different and he may be hopeful that, after the sprint, he can change the car’s set-up.”

Norris is known for being too hard on himself, but has shown more maturity in recent races as part of his effort to hunt down championship leader Piastri.

Former F1 driver Anthony Davidson believes Norris now has what it takes to bounce back strongly from the disappointment of Friday.

“Lando has the skillset to dig deeper and find more pace,” Davidson said. “The Lando of the past probably would have beaten himself up more. Maybe he has done some work in that regard, and he’s batting it aside.”

Norris himself admitted he simply lacked the pace to compete on Friday, having also trailed Piastri by half a second in the sole practice session of the weekend.

“Not quick enough, I guess. That’s the only thing,” he said. “It wasn’t the cleanest of laps, but still quite a big gap to the top. I am not too disappointed—it’s not the biggest worry. I still have things to work on.

“It’s just Friday so I am not too fussed. I’m not the happiest. I’d like to be quicker. I have to do some work tonight.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle suggested that Norris may have pushed too hard on his out-lap, compromising his tyres for the final run. But Norris was uncertain whether that theory held weight.

“It was impossible to say. Maybe it made my tyres better. You don’t know these things. We’ll look at it overnight," he said.