Something is not clicking amid Bahrain GP struggles

Lando Norris was extraordinarily downbeat after finishing third at the Bahrain Grand Prix while his team-mate, Oscar Piastri, claimed victory.

“I’m surprised I’m achieving anything at the minute with how I feel in the car,” the Mclaren driver told Sky Sports after the race. “I’m not comfortable, I’m not happy and I’m not feeling good. To be getting these results… I’m quite surprised because something’s not clicking.”

When asked to elaborate on what exactly wasn’t clicking, Norris said he didn’t have the answers yet: “It’s not because I don’t have the speed or the pace. I’m confident that I’ve got all of those things, it’s just for some reason I’m not able to show it and not able to drive in the way I want. The speed’s just not just flowing and it’s complicated.”

The 25-year-old, who is still leading the championship by three points from Bahrain GP winner Piastri, said he planned to work with the team back at its Woking base: “I need to try to understand these things because I’m so confident I can do a great job, and I’m surprised by [these results] because of how bad I feel [in the car].”

Norris admitted he “paid the price” for his own mistakes during the race, which included a five-second penalty for starting outside his grid box, and returning a position to Lewis Hamilton after he overtook the Ferrari driver off-track. “They’re mistakes that I shouldn’t have made in the first place,” he said.

It comes one day after the Brit lamented his performance in qualifying, telling F1 TV he felt like he’d never driven an F1 car before based on his performance.

“I’ve been slow this whole weekend, to be honest,” he said. “[It’s] nothing too surprising. I’ve just been off it. I feel like I’ve just never driven a Formula 1 car before. [I’m] struggling a lot, I don’t know why. I have to try and find some answers.”