Lando Norris blames 'too difficult to drive' McLaren as F1 Chinese GP sprint goes begging

Lando Norris and McLaren started the 2025 season with a win at the Australian Grand Prix and looked to have a pace advantage for the Chinese GP. However, the Briton qualified sixth for the Chinese GP Sprint in a sudden turn of events, leading Norris to lament the McLaren MCL39 for its undrivable nature.

The 25-year-old is currently leading the drivers' championship and started the 2025 season where he left off in 2024 with a win off the bat. This trend continued into the Chinese Grand Prix weekend with Norris topping the timing sheets in FP1.

However, as the Sprint Qualifying session rolled around, his pace suddenly disappeared in front of the Ferrari pair. In SQ3, Lando Norris had to string together a fast lap to dislodge Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari from pole but locked his front right tire heading into turn 14 and botched his final run.

Reflecting on his subpar sprint qualifying session, Norris deemed the McLaren MCL39 to be "too difficult to drive," and said (via Formula 1):

"I made a mistake – I locked up in the last corner. We just struggled a bit more… not quick enough, simply… struggled a lot with the car. Our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today. Nothing more than that, honestly, just too many mistakes – but just too difficult of a car to drive."

Oscar Piastri qualified P3 for the Sprint, while his teammate was down in sixth.

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Oscar Piastri deemed McLaren's plan run to be at fault unlike Lando Norris

Lando Norris (L) and Oscar Piastri (R) at the F1 Grand Prix Of China - Source: Getty

Though the Australian driver objectively had a better session than his senior teammate, he was hampered by the team's run plan. Sharing his opinion on how his day panned out, Oscar Piastri said (via Motorsport Week):

"It’s been difficult. I think with the track surface, it’s got a lot of grip, but it’s peaky. I think it’s been pretty tough all day to keep on top of the car. Honestly, I think we did a good job of trying to tame it for Sprint Quali, just maybe got the run plan a bit wrong. It’s been an interesting challenge, the grip has been a lot better than last season which is nice. But some things we can do better tomorrow."

Lando Norris was the Sprint pole sitter 12 months ago. However, he lost his lead heading into the first few corners of the track and was down in P7 as lap one ended.

The Briton will be hoping to have a better Sprint race in comparison to last year. Moreover, Norris also has to worry about the championship standings and would like to minimize the points conceded by the end of the race.