“Deflated” Lando Norris has “no idea” what went wrong in Bahrain GP qualifying

Lando Norris said he had “no idea” what went wrong in qualifying for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Norris made a mistake on his final lap in Q3, meaning he didn’t improve his lap time.

This means that Norris is set to start Sunday’s race in Bahrain from sixth on the grid, just one place ahead of F1 title rival Max Verstappen.

On the other side of the McLaren garage, Oscar Piastri beat George Russell to take his second pole position of the year.

Norris cut a frustrated figure after qualifying in his interview with Sky Sports.

Reflecting on qualifying, Norris said: “No. I didn’t even go a tenth quicker. I am just not quick enough.”

When pressed on what went wrong, he added: “No idea. Honestly, no idea. Just not quick enough.

“It’s just another day. Look into things. See why I was struggling so much today and try again tomorrow.”

Shortly after Norris’ interview, Sky Sports pundit Naomi Schiff said that “you can understand why he’s demotivated” after qualifying.

“I mean you can understand why he’s demotivated,” Schiff said. “His teammate is on pole position. What an incredible result for Oscar Piastri to put it on pole position. Lando was down by three tenths in the first sector and basically from there it’s already a lost battle.

“Unfortunately for him that’s exactly what cost him. Whilst he’s a bit deflated in saying he doesn’t have the answers, that’s just because he wanted to be on pole position and not far down the order when his teammate is on pole.”

Lando Norris has “looked behind” since FP2

Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok wasn’t surprised to see Norris look off the pace relative to Piastri.

Even without his mistake at Turn 1, Chandhok felt that Piastri would have taken pole position regardless.

“He’s looked behind hasn’t he? He’s looked behind since FP2,” Chandhok said.

“He was behind in Q2 as well. He lost the three-tenths there. He would have been in the mix with George but still been behind Oscar.

“You don’t like being beaten by your teammate and to be sixth on the grid on a weekend where all weekend we’ve talked about a McLaren 1-2, inter-team battle, he’s now got five other people in front.”