McLaren Formula One driver Lando Norris claimed he was “not feeling too great with the car” following the first day of practice ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Norris finished FP1 with the sixth fastest time and FP2 in fifth. In comparison, his teammate Oscar Piastri finished FP1 in P5 and went fastest in FP2.
“It’s just a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car. Yeah, missing all of the feelings that I had here last year. So plenty of things to work on. Just a bad day,” Norris explained to Sky Sports F1.
When asked to clarify if it was the car, he added: “I mean, Oscar’s quick, so I’ve got nothing to complain about, bar just not doing a very good job.”
Making matters worse, Charles Leclerc crashed into the McLaren driver in the pitlane after being released into him. As a result, he crashed into the wall, damaging his front wing.
“No, I mean, it cost the team a bit of money, which is a shame,” Norris explained when asked for his thoughts on the crash, but the 25-year-old remained fairly tight-lipped about the situation.
The Ferrari driver will be heading to the stewards to discuss the incident, which will likely lead to a financial penalty for the Maranello outfit.
Norris’s outlook after the first two practice sessions was a complete turnaround from his confidence during the drivers’ press conference on Thursday.
“Confident, confident, because like you said, last year was a very good one here,” he said when asked how he was feeling ahead of the race weekend. “We were very strong here last year. I had a good race, so always nice.
“I’ve always enjoyed it since my first year in 2019, so at the minute it looks like a little bit worse weather than what we’ve had over the last few years, but excited. It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, so happy to get going.”