Lando Norris worried about Sepang track after difficult Bahrain GP qualifying

World champion Lando Norris expressed concerns about McLaren's performance at Malaysia's Sepang track after a tough qualifying session at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Norris finished sixth in the Sepang race, which had not been hosted in nine years, and was just 0.1 seconds slower than pole sitter Max Verstappen. However, Norris will start fifth in the upcoming race after Red Bull's Isack Hadjar was penalized and dropped from third to eighth place.

Norris, who is fourth in the championship, found the Malaysian tarmac to be a significant challenge for his car, stating, "We are just slow. The car's not good enough here." Verstappen, who claimed his first pole position of the season, clocked a time of 1 minute and 35.130 seconds, ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes' Hadjar.

Verstappen's teammate Hadjar will start eighth due to a five-place grid penalty, while championship leader Kimi Antil is set to start third for Mercedes, alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Verstappen expressed his elation at the achievement, saying, "It's fantastic, we've been trying for many Grands Prix to get more, sometimes a bit closer to the others.

But to finally get it from where we started the season, pretty incredible." Hamilton, who struggled with tyre degradation in practice sessions, acknowledged the intense heat and the difficulties it posed for the team.