Norris 'not happy with a P4' in Singapore as McLaren chief admits 'we want to fight for wins'

Norris: 'I'm not happy with a P4, I want a podium'

Lando Norris has made no secret of his frustration after finishing fourth at the Singapore Grand Prix, insisting that McLaren must return to fighting for wins rather than settling for a place at the back of the top four.

Starting fifth on the grid for the 62-lap race around the streets of Marina Bay, Norris held his position through the opening phase, closely shadowing Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. A mid-race pit stop for fresh tyres allowed him to jump Antonelli, and he then applied pressure to Hamilton for the final step on the podium as the Ferrari driver struggled on worn soft tyres.

Costly battle with Hamilton

Having failed to make the move stick on Hamilton at Turn 1, Norris lost a position back to Antonelli before eventually getting the better of the Ferrari to cross the line fourth. He was candid about where the defeat was self-inflicted.

"I can look at it in two ways," said Norris. "One, it's not a bad result for us. I think P4 is as good as we were going to get. I could have done a better job to fight more for the P3, done a better job fighting against Lewis and positioning my car a bit better and not going off and allowing Kimi to come through. Otherwise, a P4 is the best we could achieve today. I'm happy we managed to do that but we want more than what we had today."

Norris crossed the line 16 seconds adrift of the podium but a full 40 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen, a gap that underlined how far McLaren have fallen from the summer form that saw the reigning World Champion claim two victories.

'We're the fourth fastest team'

"Red Bull seem like the team to beat and have clearly improved the car a lot over the last few weeks, and we've just slipped to the back of the top four," Norris said. "We're the fourth fastest team, which means that if we finished P4 today we still did a good job and overachieved let's say in terms of car result. I'm not happy with a P4, I want a podium and we want to fight for wins. We need to keep trying to improve and bringing upgrades to make the car better."

Piastri salvages P5 after slow puncture

Team mate Oscar Piastri was able to secure P5 at the chequered flag, overtaking Hamilton on the penultimate lap, but the Australian had to overcome an unscheduled mid-race stop caused by a slow puncture.

"It felt pretty reasonable I would say. I think we just didn't quite have enough pace," said Piastri. "We couldn't go with Max and Charles [Leclerc], I think Kimi was a little bit quicker than us as well. There wasn't really too much we could do other than where we ended up."

The result leaves McLaren searching for answers as rivals Red Bull, and the pace-setting Verstappen, pull clear at the front of the field.