Lando Norris comes clean on another disappointing qualifying session at the F1 Chinese GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris reflected that he was "disappointed" after he finished P3 in the qualifying session at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday. The British driver looked relatively comfortable in his MCL39 and was one of the favorites to get pole position in the qualifying and was nip and tuck with his team mate Oscar Piastri throughout the session.

The 25-year-old had a tough Sprint earlier on Saturday when he lost a heap of positions at the start of the 19-lap race from P6. He was unable to make any headway in the midfield and could only manage a P8 finish and get a solitary point to his name.

Lando Norris aborted his final push lap in the Q3 session after, once again, he ran wide on Turn 14 similar to his mistake in the Sprint qualifying on Friday. The championship leader dropped down to P3 after Mercedes driver George Russell pulled off a blinding lap to split the McLarens.

In his post-quali interview, the five-time F1 race winner reflected on his qualifying session and said:

"Always disappointed if I'm not on pole but Oscar deserves it today. He's done a very good job all weekend. Happy for him and his first pole in F1. Just a couple of mistakes again, kind of been my case this weekend but the car has been feeling better today."

"A much better direction we are going in, especially yesterday when I struggled a lot and even this morning, so not too disappointed. We changed quite a lot on the car [after the Sprint] because we were nowhere, so let's see [for tomorrow]," he added.

Lando Norris has mentioned on multiple occasions that the MCL39 has been on a knife's edge in the first two weekends.

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Lando Norris previews his chances of winning the Chinese GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris admitted that as a team they had made changes to the MCL39 from Sprint to qualifying but was unsure of its impact on winning the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Brit reflected on the improvements to the car and said to Sky Sports:

"We definitely made some improvements compared to yesterday and earlier. It's difficult to know how much better we will be tomorrow. We think we moved things in the right direction and I felt more comfortable out there. I was delivering almost every lap I did bar the last one. We are in a better position, I'm more comfortable."

The British driver is currently leading the driver's championship from Max Verstappen by a mere two points and will have the Dutch driver breathing down his neck for the main race on Sunday as well.

Lando Norris can't afford to make any further mistakes in the main race as it could prove costly given the tire troubles and the importance of free air around the Shanghai International Circuit.