Lando Norris admitted there was “no excuse” for his stumble in Singapore’s sprint qualifying, citing laps that failed to be competitive despite a technical fix.
Sprint qualifying results
After securing seventh in SQ1—slightly faster than teammate Oscar Piastri by 0.020s—Norris climbed to third in SQ2, outpacing Piastri by 0.534s. Yet in the final shootout, Piastri edged him again, this time by 0.133s, leaving Norris fifth among the ten selected.
McLaren’s response to fuel‑injection woes
Fragmented fuel‑injection problems that crippled Norris during Baku and Malaysia prompted a quick patch at Marina Bay. “I think so, from what I’ve seen so far,” the Briton said, adding that the crew remained fine‑tuning the system while the car felt tighter than usual but was showing incremental gains.
Oscar Piastri’s complementary performance
Piastri, who has repeatedly out-placed Norris in the last five sessions, reported a fourth‑place finish in Singapore. He praised the soft tires for revealing more grip, noting that once the softer tyres were in place, his confidence rose. “It’s tricky on a sprint weekend to get all the lap time out on the car here,” he said, pointing to the first section as the area of most improvement.
As the team tightens its focus on grip and power delivery, the sprint showdown will determine whether the adjustments hold when the pressure of race day mounts.
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