Lando Norris Blames Mercedes Incident on Poor Qualifying Performance

For a season where so much in Formula One would change thanks to new regulations, including the car speed and aerodynamics surrounding it, it might have been naïve to expect Lando Norris to continue his domination showcased in 2025.

Mercedes' strong performances all throughout the practice session, which saw George Russell finishing first in FP3, set a strong precedent that the German team was looking primed to get one of their drivers on pole in qualifying.

That indeed was the case, as Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli put their cars on the front row, ahead of Isack Hadjar in P3 on his debut weekend for Red Bull.

Incident with Kimi Antonelli led to Lando Norris missing out

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes | Mercedes-Benz Media

The McLaren of Lando Norris struggled with energy deployment issues in the lead-up to Q3, but did indeed progress to the final shootout in F1's first qualifying with 22 cars in almost a decade.

A rogue cooling fan that had fallen off the car of Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli only a couple of minutes into the final session, with Norris driving straight over the debris and relaying back to his team that the incident had occurred.

Both McLaren cars would finish the day fifth and sixth, with Piastri beating his teammate by 0.095 of a second, but more notably, with a car that had not had as many issues as Norris throughout the weekend in Melbourne.

Speaking post-qualifying about what the biggest reason was for his underwhelming P6, Norris blamed the incident with Antonelli.

“I had some damage on the front wing which certainly didn’t help [in terms of car performance], from that massive piece of debris that I hit... I don’t know how much it cost me but it certainly cost me a chance of P3."
Norris on the Q3 incident

Wrapping up Quali day in Melbourne 📰#McLarenF1 | #AusGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/guPjp8oaln
— McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team (@McLarenF1) March 7, 2026

The 26-year-old put forward the belief that third place was an obtainable position in an uninterrupted weekend, presumably avoiding any talk of pole down to the impressive pace of the Mercedes duo, who both qualified over half a second faster than the rest of the grid.

Norris emphasized that persistent issues throughout Friday and Saturday led to his not getting the best out of the car.

"I think really where we lost out this weekend is the amount of issues we’ve had through FP1, FP2 and FP3. I just never got up to speed, never did enough laps."
Norris on a disappointing practice

The Australian Grand Prix will take place at midnight on March 7 — you can read the weather forecast here.