Norris expects 'Verstappen will get things going again'

The McLaren driver's prediction for this weekend? "I think Max will kind of be back on track, and then Ferrari and then probably us. I think we can be tight with Ferrari because a bit more of a bias towards the high-speed corners here," Norris said.

"But yes, just to be clear, I think from the first few races on average we're probably the third quickest team. Maybe a little bit behind at times in qualifying, relative to the Aston Martins, I think [they] can be very quick in qualifying, they have a very stable car. So in qualifying it looks good, for some reason in the race they struggle a bit more, and that's when we can maybe be a bit closer," he says regarding the Aston Martin.

"That's a good sign, it means that we can be competitive in races, and I think we've been relatively competitive in all the races so far this year, so that's a good strength from us. Maybe qualifying is the one where I find it a little bit tougher to get everything out of the car. But from my side, I'm just kind of like I said last weekend, trying to get everything out of the car in qualifying I struggle with a bit. On myself, and just with how we are as a team."

McLaren in qualifying

Norris says the McLaren is a tricky car to drive on Saturdays. "There's still things, even over the last couple of weeks, I've learnt about quite a bit. You know, like in qualifying, I've always been wanting to push quite a bit more in certain areas, and kind of want to go out and just be attacking. And I have to do the complete opposite. And it's a hard one to get my head around, because I want to go out and, say, find another limit in qualifying, and I just can't do that. With these tyres and with our car... You almost have to drive it the opposite way."

The 24-year-old driver had his qualifying better under the old 2021 regulations and seasons before. "From being used to the cars a few years ago, that's kind of punishing me now, and not adapting quick enough. But that's something that's up to me. That's my job, to adapt and to do a better job. But also just with how our car is, how you have to drive it, it's always been said, and it continues to be quite a tricky car to drive. To execute a perfect qualifying lap. Every single time. It's not an easy thing to do. But that's also, like we said, something we're working on," he concludes.