Lando Norris hopes McLaren’s low downforce gamble will “pay us back” in Belgian GP

Lando Norris is hoping that McLaren’s decision to run lower downforce will pay off in Sunday’s F1 Belgian Grand Prix.

After showing impressive pace in dry conditions on Friday, Norris could only secure fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

McLaren’s lack of pace in the middle sector - the high downforce part of the lap - was apparent throughout qualifying.

Norris did well to recover to qualify fifth (before Max Verstappen’s penalty) after nearly dropping out in Q1.

Reflecting on qualifying, Norris conceded he’s not clicked with his McLaren F1 car.

“The whole weekend the Red Bull has been a step ahead of us even if we were a bit quicker yesterday,” he said. “I just think Red Bull didn’t show their cards at all - and we did.

“What we did yesterday was pretty much all we got. I think going into today we were optimistic still. I was just struggling a bit myself. Oscar was almost quickest in the first two sessions. Q3, I think both just struggled a little bit more.

“Just from my side, I just haven’t been able to click very well today. I was always one step behind. I was always a little bit on the backfoot. To come away with a P5, I was actually surprised with and therefore happy with it.

“It’s not the result I wanted honestly. Still got to overtake some quick cars like the Red Bull of Perez.”

Norris confirmed that McLaren have opted to run with “slightly lower downforce” in preparation for a dry race.

It means McLaren will have more straight-line speed as they look to move up the order in the race.

“The slightly lower downforce that we have potentially has hurt us a little bit today and hopefully will pay us back tomorrow,” he explained.

“I was struggling a lot out there, honestly. Just with a bit of confidence. High-speed. I was a little bit more confident at the end of yesterday. I just haven’t clicked as much as I did in the previous races. It sounds terrible but I have to try very hard to try and understand the car in every corner whereas the last few weeks, months it’s been a lot more natural.

“Maybe just one of those weekends so far. We will work hard overnight to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be tomorrow.”