Lando Norris sets target for Belgian GP fightback after grid penalty

Lando Norris will start the Belgian Grand Prix from 13th place at the Belgian Grand Prix, but has his sights set firmly on retaking positions lost through his grid penalty. 

The McLaren driver entered the Spa-Francorchamps weekend knowing that he would drop 10 places on the grid after taking a fourth control electronics unit of the season - this putting him one beyond the prescribed limit.

Throughout the three practice sessions and in qualifying, Norris had been a challenger at the front of the pack, and ultimately qualified in third place, behind Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, before his penalty sent him down the order.

Asked what could be possible from his grid slot on the race, Norris said: "It’s tough to say. I’ll just do my best to come back through and get well into the points. 

"I think we’re clearly much quicker than quite a few of the cars. Gabi [Bortoleto] has done a good job, as always. The AlphaTauri [Racing Bulls], or the upgraded one of Arvid, looks pretty racy at times, so I’m confident we can at least get past all of these guys. 

"It’s more about how far into the top six or eight, from a Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari point of view, we can get back in the race with these guys. So that’s just the target."

The Belgian Grand Prix has seen several comeback drives in recent years, with Verstappen often choosing this as the round to take additional power unit components, given the ease of overtaking along the long Kemmel Straight. Whether passing will remain as simple in the modern era will become clearer on Sunday.

"Clearly, the pace is pretty good," said Norris, when quizzed on his mindset heading into the race.

"It’s close, so it’s not like we’re easily going to be able to get back in the fight with the top group. But, of course, a good start and a good first lap can easily get me back where I want to be quickly. 

"From then on, it just depends on how easy overtaking is or how difficult it is. I don’t think it’s going to be crazy easy, but there are a lot of possibilities. Honestly, it’s not that different because you do your best in every race. You’re always attacking. 

"For me, that’s always what works best. I guess we’ll probably come up with a few more scenarios. If overtaking is easy or hard, and we can’t get back into the top six, seven or eight that quickly, what else can we do to bring us back into the fight? But apart from that, I’m confident we’ll be able to get up there pretty quickly."