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F1 pundit Mark Hughes believed that McLaren driver Lando Norris took too much out of tires during the Sprint Shootout, which led him to finish P4 in the SQ3 on Friday. The British driver had a difficult start to the weekend as the team looked to be on the back foot going into the Sprint qualifying after just one practice session.
The Norris-McLaren have been the combination to beat ever since the summer break, as the 24-year-old has taken two dominant wins in Zandvoort and Singapore along with three pole positions in the four previous races.
However, McLaren seemed to struggle at the Circuit of the Americas throughout Friday despite the track layout suiting the MCL38. Lando Norris finished a couple of tenths away from his title rival and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who finished the session on pole position.
Writing in his column for The Race, Mark Hughes believed that by taking more speed into the Esses in the first sector, Norris and McLaren ended up compromising on tire management.
"On the softs in SQ3, Norris carried a lot more speed into the Esses but seemingly at the expense of those front tires later in the lap. Although he improved his speed through the Esses by a lot in SQ3, he was still well behind Verstappen through that section."
Hughes also touched upon how Red Bull's upgrades seemed to be paying off as Verstappen was able to easily outperform Norris without facing tire degradation.
"Max’s Red Bull, with its new floor edge treatment and different rear body, was dynamite there, a full 9km/h quicker than the McLaren on the approach to Turn 6. Notably, Verstappen is using a couple of dabs of braking through there to aid the direction change. Yet that speed through the Esses didn’t overwork the Red Bull’s tires in the way Norris’ speed did his," Hughes wrote.
Lando Norris analyzes his P4 finish in the Sprint Shootout
McLaren driver Lando Norris said he struggled with balance issues throughout Friday and was unable to extract the maximum out of the car. As per F1.com, the Brit reflected:
“A frustrating Sprint Qualifying this afternoon. My lap could have been cleaner, so I’m disappointed. We’ll look into it tonight and find the areas to work on ahead of tomorrow’s sessions."
But Norris also remarked that despite having an underwhelming outing, they were still 'in the mix' and could contend for valuable points in their bid for the title.
"We’re in the mix though and within touching distance of the leaders with only a couple of cars to overtake, so that’s my plan for the Sprint with the aim of scoring strong points in our push for the Championship.”
McLaren have brought a whole host of upgrades such as a new front wing to Austin, Texas this weekend to try and close down the gap to Max Verstappen in the Driver's Championship.
Lando Norris, who would be running the upgraded front wing on his car, trails the three-time world champion by 52 points and has nine competitive sessions to overturn the deficit.
