Lando Norris gave a downbeat forecast of his Dutch Grand Prix chances after finishing third during Saturday’s sprint.
The reigning world champion said ahead of the weekend that he was not giving up hope of defending his title, despite starting it 91 points adrift, but bemoaned his car as “nowhere near good enough” after the 24-lap dash.
Norris qualified second but was unable to offer a challenge to sprint winner George Russell and instead lost out to Charles Leclerc at the start of lap 18 before fending off championship leader Kimi Antonelli to finish third.
“We don’t have the pace in general, slow-speed corners we struggle so much compared to others. There is nothing we can do,” Norris said.
“The car is very good in high-speed and nowhere near good enough in slow-speed.
“To keep up was very difficult. You can’t push in slow-speed during the race and therefore can’t optimise our strengths and more of our weaknesses show.”
Pushed on whether there was a fix before race qualifying and Sunday’s main event, Norris said: “No, otherwise we would have done it already.”
The 26-year-old won his first race of the season last time out in Hungary before the sport’s summer shutdown.
Many observers felt the seaside circuit of Zandvoort would suit Norris and McLaren but he believes it simply exposed their weaknesses.
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“In Budapest we were good in high-speed corners and pretty terrible in slow-speed but we still managed to win,” he added.
“There are a lot more slow-speed corners here, more of our problems show. It is what we expected.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now, it is just how the car is for the time being.
“Even with a P3, I want to be fighting for top spot and trying to push forward and challenge George.
“The upgrades have all worked and they allowed me to be P3 today but we need more if we want to be fighting for a championship.”
