Norris: Too many mistakes here and there

Lando Norris admitted he made “too many mistakes” on his way to P2 in Qualifying today, while McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was satisfied with third in what proved one of the closest qualifying sessions of the 2025 season.

Norris, who missed out on pole by less than a tenth, was relieved to salvage a front row start after a scrappy session. “Max has been quick all weekend and it’s never a surprise with Max. It was quite a session for me, just up and down and too many mistakes here and there. To put it all together on the last lap was pretty happy so happy with P2,” he said.

He admitted his driving left room for improvement but felt the result leaves McLaren well placed for Sunday. “I always give my result based on how I drove on the day. I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs but P2 I’m still happy with. Good things and bad things. P2 is not a bad position to be off the line. I want to be ahead of everyone. A good position for tomorrow and excited for the race.”

Looking ahead to the Grand Prix, Norris was realistic about the challenge Red Bull will pose. “Sunday race pace is normally our strength but to get past Max I’m sure will be a challenge. I don’t expect any magical things and we have some Ferraris behind who I’m sure will want to come through as quickly as possible.”

Piastri, third fastest in Q3, delivered a tidy lap and felt the team maximised what was possible against Verstappen. “Nothing major went wrong. Turn one was a little bit average but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tidy. I felt like I executed a pretty good session, built up a little bit at the start, found my feet but I think it has been incredibly tight this weekend,” he explained.

“Max and Red Bull looked quick this weekend, I mean to be honest a lot of teams looked quick, it’s not been quite as comfortable for us. The result is not a big surprise, but obviously, we would have loved to have been a little bit further up.”

Despite losing valuable mileage by sitting out FP1, Piastri believes McLaren will be competitive in the race. “I don’t think it looked too bad from where I was. It has just been a little bit trickier for us in general. Obviously I missed FP1 as well, so that was my first long run, and the race is always very different. So I’m pretty confident for tomorrow.”

Ahead of tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, Piastri leads Norris by 34 points. The Australian has bagged seven of McLaren's 12 victories so far this year, and Norris will be seeking his sixth on Sunday.