A downbeat Lando Norris on Friday said that he was “not so comfortable” and felt he was unable to “nail it down” in spite of topping the times ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in practice for today’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in 1 minute, 42.260 seconds to outpace Piastri by 0.215 seconds round the spectacular 7.004km circuit in the Ardennes, leaving series leader and three-time world champion Max Verstappen a further 0.002 seconds adrift in his Red Bull.
“It was good if you just look at the timesheets, but it is very close and the Red Bull is very fast,” Norris said. “It might look good, but I’m not super comfortable and we have some work to do tonight.”
Photo: EPA-EF
He said he had “no ideas yet” as to how he could improve his car, but added that “we prepared well and we have a good set-up, but I don’t feel I have nailed it down yet.”
Asked if he felt that McLaren should support him more individually in a bid to challenge for the drivers’ title, Norris said that he expected it to become an issue if the team continued their recent success.
“I don’t know when that is,” he said. “Whether I’m 10 points behind Max or 15 points, at what point do you say: ‘Can you help out more?’ I don’t know when that point is and that’s not my decision.”
Photo: Reuters
“Oscar deserved to win in Hungary,” he said. “We are only halfway through the season and we still have a hell of a long way to go, so maybe a little bit further down the line, but that time is to be decided.
“I still need to earn it. I still need to go out there and drive quicker than everyone,” he said. “I have had a chance the whole season and we have never had a bias in the team before.”
Piastri claimed his maiden F1 victory in Hungary thanks, in part, to Norris obeying team orders to hand back the leading position after he had been given a strategic advantage in the pit stops.
This left Norris disappointed again, as he had been in several recent races when decisions he or the team made appeared to have cost him a victory.
Verstappen, who is to start today’s race with a 10-place grid penalty after Red Bull fitted his car with a fifth new engine, exceeding the season limit of four, said he also wanted to improve his car overnight.
“We tried a few things,” he said. “It is tricky to find the right balance. We have the data and will analyze it.”
“We have to start a few places back because of a penalty for the engine and so we still have to optimize a few things,” he said.
In cooling conditions, with rain threatening, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who it was announced earlier is to switch to Haas next year.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was eighth ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS