Norris saves P6 after McLaren repair at Silverstone

Lando Norris salvaged sixth on the Silverstone sprint grid after McLaren repaired front brake-duct damage that left his car "pretty shocking" to drive through the first two segments of sprint qualifying, but the reigning world champion said the fix did not change a bigger problem: McLaren still lacks the pace to fight at the front.

The damage struck in SQ1 and carried into SQ2, where Norris only just avoided elimination in 10th, 0.081s clear of Pierre Gasly in 11th. McLaren managed to repair the issue in the break before SQ3, and Norris then recovered to a 1:28.740 for sixth, finishing 0.032s ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in seventh.

Norris told reporters the problem hurt far more than he first realized. "It hampered me a lot more than I thought because only for the final run did we fix it," he said. "The guys did a good job on fixing it for the last run, but the car was completely different and way better again."

Before that repair, Norris said the McLaren had been almost undriveable. "It felt pretty shocking for most of the session," he said. "Just lucky that we managed to fix it because it felt like a completely different car. But by the time I got the feeling for the final lap, I felt like I could've just pushed way more. Just unfortunate today, but I think the pace was still there or thereabouts."

Even without the damage, McLaren had already looked short of the leaders' pace on Friday. Norris was seventh in FP1, more than a second off the benchmark in one account, and Piastri said after practice that the team "looked pretty slow." That picture largely held in sprint qualifying, where the pair locked out the third and fourth rows rather than threatening the front.

Norris does not expect much more in the sprint itself. "Maybe the Red Bull we can potentially compete against, but the Mercedes of George is clearly just a lot quicker," he said. "To fight a much quicker car like that is going to be difficult, but you never know. I felt happier at the end. I just need to understand a few things and see what we can improve into tomorrow."

Piastri struck a similar tone after taking seventh, saying the result was about what McLaren expected after its difficult start to the weekend. The Australian said "P7 is more or less what we expected" and that while the team made some progress after practice, "we've just not had the fundamental pace."

That leaves McLaren with damage limitation rather than a clear shot at the front on Saturday, with Norris at least recovering enough late in qualifying to put himself in the fight around the Red Bull while Mercedes and Ferrari remain out of reach for now.