Key Highlights:
- Lando Norris conceded it is “pretty obvious” that McLaren has fallen to the fourth-fastest team in Formula 1 after finishing fifth at the United States Grand Prix.
- McLaren attempted an aggressive one-stop strategy hoping for a safety car disruption, but fading hard tires left Norris vulnerable to late-race overtakes.
- With Oscar Piastri finishing seventh, Red Bull wiped out McLaren’s seven-point advantage, leaving the two squads tied for third in the constructors’ championship with five rounds remaining.
McLaren’s Performance Slump Laid Bare in Austin
Following a challenging outing at the United States Grand Prix, reigning champion Lando Norris offered an honest evaluation of McLaren’s current competitive hierarchy in Formula 1. Norris crossed the line in fifth place at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing adrift of race winner Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton. With Oscar Piastri crossing the line two spots behind in seventh, McLaren struggled to match the front-running pace of their direct rivals.
When questioned on whether McLaren has slipped behind its primary opposition to become the fourth-fastest car on the grid, Norris delivered a blunt assessment: “Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious.”
Persistent Deficits in Low-Speed Corners
While McLaren introduced technical updates ahead of the event, Norris clarified that although the package functions correctly, rivals have outpaced their developmental steps—particularly in addressing long-standing chassis balance problems. Addressing the package’s behavior, Norris explained:
“Yeah, I’m just hoping you put something on and it’s magical and you go a lot quicker and you’re fighting for a podium all of a sudden. Things are all working as they should, but you know, all the teams, Ferrari brought upgrades and all the teams are still bringing upgrades, so they’re delivering. Just not, I guess, just not really in all the places that we need them to, like the slow speed corners, we’re just nowhere near at the level we need to be.
“We need a lot more rear and slow speed. It’s been our issue for a long time now. It seems to be very hard to tackle.”
Strategic Gamble and Track Battles
Recognizing the raw performance deficit to the leaders, McLaren opted to run an alternative one-stop strategy on Norris’s car in hopes that an interruption might offer track-position rewards. Norris highlighted the logic behind the approach, stating:
“Yeah, we tried. I mean, we were not there on pace or anything, so we had to give it a shot and if there’s any VSC or safety car, we were right in contention for a good podium. Even a P2 for a lot of it. I feel like it was a good race today. I feel like the pace was strong. I feel like I got everything out of it, so I have to be happy even though a P5 doesn’t sound amazing.”
Advertisement
The alternate strategy left Norris vulnerable on worn hard compound tires during the final stint. Despite robust defense against Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver executed a pass on fresher tires from a two-stop strategy. Recounting the late-race battle, Norris remarked:
“Inevitably as soon as he had Overtake [mode] and I had to use Boost [mode] to defend, he was going to come past quite easily. So he did that and as soon as I then have traffic on old tyres, then it’s kind of game over and it’s easy for everyone else.”
McLaren also implemented team orders during the grand prix, swapping the order of their drivers. Norris noted that he had been “a lot quicker all weekend”
compared to Oscar Piastri, making the instruction “just the obvious thing to do”
to optimize the team’s finishing chances.
Why This Matters
The outcome in Austin delivers severe ramifications for the 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ championship battle. McLaren entered the United States Grand Prix holding a seven-point buffer over Red Bull in the race for third position. Following the combined results at the Circuit of the Americas, Red Bull has erased that deficit entirely. Both teams depart the event deadlocked in points with only five rounds remaining, shifting immense pressure onto McLaren’s technical team to extract further pace from their current aerodynamic package.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the McLaren drivers finish at the United States Grand Prix?
Lando Norris completed the race in fifth place, while his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri finished in seventh position.
What specific issue is currently holding the McLaren car back?
According to Lando Norris, the car severely lacks rear-end performance and competitiveness in slow-speed corners, a chronic limitation that developmental upgrades have struggled to resolve.
How does the Austin result impact the Formula 1 constructors’ standings?
McLaren’s seven-point lead over Red Bull was wiped out, leaving both competitors completely level on points in the battle for third place in the constructors’ championship with five races left on the schedule.
