Norris: We need a tyre that feels like it should be on an F1 car

Norris was speaking in the aftermath of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix that was marred with chaos, spins, crashes, with Red Flags aplenty during the 58-lap race.

After the second Red Flag of the race, following the accident of Haas' Kevin Magnussen, the restart turned into mayhem with Carlos Sainz punting Fernando Alonso into a spin, Logan Sargeant clashing with Nyck de Vries, and the Alpine drivers, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon wiped out after a clumsy move by Gasly.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Norris claimed the problem is partially due to the new Pirelli tyres, as he insisted the 18" Italian rubber offers no grip.

"We have a soft [tyre] on that's 65 degrees [Centigrade] and I can't describe how little grip there is on track," he said. "It's not a bad temperature. But the tyre doesn't work and on this surface with this tyre temperature, I can't describe how bad the grip is.

"That's why you see everyone going straight on in Turn 1 and locking up… it provides literally no grip, so you have to brake so early, which causes chaos and causes incidents," the McLaren driver explained.

Going further, he said: "If the tyres felt like they gave us some grip, I think you'd be able to see a good race without chaos and some clumsiness and things like that. It's just difficult.

"I wouldn't say it's clumsy from everyone. It's just you're racing and there's no grip, as simple as that," the 23-year-old maintained.

"We need a tyre that gives us some more grip and actually a tyre that feels like it should be on a Formula 1 car at the top of motorsport and at the moment, on a day like today, it feels pretty terrible," Norris concluded.

Norris finished the race in Melbourne sixth and scored his first points of the 2023 F1 season, as McLaren endure another difficult start to an F1 campaign.