'We’re just not quick enough' - Norris admits McLaren's failure at the United States Grand Prix

Lando Norris admitted McLaren were “just not quick enough” at the United States Grand Prix after struggling to perform around the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

The defending World Champion started on the fourth row in P7 alongside team mate Oscar Piastri, but found it almost impossible to reach the performance required to match the pace of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari – an issue McLaren have faced all weekend.

Norris, who was sitting second during the latter stages of the race before being overtaken by Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, ended up settling for fifth-place – extending his run without a podium finish to four straight races.

However, the British driver conceded that the team did the best they could considering the situation they faced and gave themselves opportunities to battle for places.

“I think we achieved the best we could,” said Norris. “It was clear we didn’t have the pace of the others, but we gave it a good try. The pace was good on the hards for a bit, we struggled a lot more on the mediums, but we gave ourselves a chance which was the main thing.

“We had a good strategy and through everything, we gave ourselves the most opportunities so I’m happy, but we’re just not quick enough.”

The result leaves McLaren joint-third in the Constructors’ Championship alongside the improving Red Bull squad, with the task ahead extremely clear in Norris’ opinion.

He explained: “We know exactly what we’ve got, but we’ve just got to improve it and at the minute, we’ve certainly made some improvements but it's nothing at the level it needs to be.”

Further back, Piastri crossed the finish line in seventh to add another six points to his tally, just ahead of Mercedes rival George Russell in eighth.

Speaking after the race, a clearly deflated Piastri described his weekend as “challenging”.

”It was very tough for sure," said the Australian. "We were able to keep Russell behind at least which was good but it was pretty challenging to get lap time out of the car which has been the same all weekend.

“I think, as a team, we’ve both struggled to a pretty big extent but for me, the pace has been pretty bad so there's plenty to understand and see where we can do better.”