Norris blames track surface as McLaren struggle in Bahrain GP qualifying

F1 world champion Lando Norris wrestled with an unhelpful McLaren in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday in Malaysia, blaming the circuit's unique surface for his team's struggles.

Norris finished sixth, sixth tenths of a second slower than Max Verstappen, who will start from pole position, but will start fifth after Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar received a grid penalty, dropping him from third to eighth.

The McLaren driver, who is fourth in the championship, openly criticised his car's performance on the Sepang tarmac.

"We are just slow. The car's not good enough here," Norris told reporters.

"This tarmac is very different to a lot of other tracks we have been to this year and therefore I think you see Mercedes struggle a lot more today especially, you see Red Bull quicker than they usually are.

"So I think the order has shaken up a little bit and I think we struggle a little bit more than what we were expecting because of the surface."

Norris said he was happy with his final qualifying lap and believed he had got the most out of the car.

"However, it's clear we are a long way off the pace. My car is struggling with speed on the straights and we've lacked general pace all weekend," he added.

"So starting fifth is not a surprise. We don't expect any miracles and it's obvious the Red Bulls are in a class of their own here."

Lando’s teammate Oscar Piastri finished seventh fastest but will start alongside Norris on the third row following Hadjar’s grid penalty.

"Not quite the session we wanted. We're struggling a bit for pace here. But overall I was reasonably happy with things," Piastri said.

"An extra tenth (of a second) would have been good... We were just not quite quick enough here unfortunately. It's going to be a race where we can do a lot with strategy - and then hopefully pace."