"No one to blame but myself" for worst F1 qualifying of year - Norris

The McLaren driver failed to make it into Q3 for the first time this year and was left a disappointing 13th after a pair of late red flags prevented him from completing his final flying lap and improving into the top 10.

Norris admitted he simply did not do a good enough job and put the blame for failing to join teammate Daniel Ricciardo in the final part of qualifying firmly on himself after “going a little bit in the wrong direction” with his car set-up.

“My worst qualifying of the season,” Norris conceded. “It makes my life harder tomorrow, but I am up for the challenge.

“Of course I would’ve liked another attempt to go much quicker, and I think I could have,” he added. “I did not do a good enough first run, and that is the reason I am out now. A few different reasons.

“No one to blame but myself, and maybe going a little bit in the wrong direction with the car for qualifying. I just did not put it together when it counted, especially when it is so close with these midfield cars.

“You need a perfect lap and a nice slipstream to do everything, and we did not get all of that together and so we ended up where we did.”

Even if the red flags had not occurred, Norris is not convinced he would have had the pace to advance into Q3 and challenge nearest rival Ferrari.

"We are on the brink,” Norris said. "I’m not confident that we could have easily been in and been fifth or sixth.

“But Daniel did it so of course it was possible. I just did not have the confidence in the car to really put it all together and nail the lap like he did.

“I’m not concerned or worried, I’m annoyed that I did not do a good enough job. It is my first weekend of the year we did not put it all together when we needed to.

“It makes it worse that it is here because it is not going to be an easy day tomorrow to try and get it back.”

And Norris is not feeling optimistic about his chances of progression and fighting his way back into the points on race day, with overtaking opportunities expected to be very limited.

"There are some things with the strategy and the start, and we will try to gain some places,” he explained. “I’m sure it's not going to be easy no matter what.

“I’m not expecting anything great. I know qualifying is important here. It is a shame but it is the way it is sometimes. You get unlucky. I didn’t do the best lap I should’ve done.”