'Hard to challenge' Ferrari in Chinese Grand Prix, admits Norris

Norris said McLaren, constructors' champions in 2025, did not know why they were losing significant amounts of time to the front-runners.

"My final sector has been pretty poor and we have been losing a little bit on the straights to some of the other cars which we need to understand why," said Norris, who beat Max Verstappen to the world title in 2025.

"The last corner here is like my worst corner of the season, I can't get it right, and I made quite a big mistake on my final lap there. Where we are now is where we deserve to be and where we should be," he added.

Teams were still getting to grips with the radical aerodynamic and chassis regulations in only the second race weekend in Formula One's new era, with a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Norris believed one of the dominant Mercedes would take the chequered flag and McLaren's fight would be with the Ferraris who occupy the second row on the grid.

"It looks close to the Ferrari and we definitely want to get in the fight tomorrow," said Norris.

"But it was clear today they definitely have advantages which we struggle to get on top of," he added. "It will be hard to challenge them but, you never know, and we'll give it a good shot."

Piastri agreed with his teammate.

"I think we are a bit behind at the moment," said the Australian.

"We're not weak in one particular place. I think we probably did a better job today of maximising the power unit, which was good, but we're just lacking grip," he added.