Norris concedes McLaren balance ‘a bit all over the place’ in Mexico FP2

Lando Norris admitted that the balance of his McLaren was "a bit all over the place" after falling over a quarter-of-a-second shy of Max Verstappen on Friday in Mexico.

Norris set the fourth fastest time in Free Practice 2, ending the day behind championship rival Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Kimi Antonelli.

Like Verstappen, the McLaren driver had made way for a rookie driver in FP1 and sat out the session, with Pato O’Ward filling his seat. But after complaints about power surges midway through the session, Norris had been unable to find an answer for the Red Bull driver’s pace.

“It’s just the balance of the car, it’s just a bit all over the place,” said Norris after the session concluded. “It’s the same as the last few weeks, just single lap stuff we’re struggling with at the minute.

"We’re working hard. We’re trying everything we can, so we’ll see what we can find.”

Norris trails team mate Oscar Piastri by 14 points in the Drivers’ Standings, and the Briton was the faster of the two drivers on Friday, with the second McLaren down in 12th place, 0.840s off the benchmark.

Despite his concerns about the balance, Norris did end on something of a positive note adding: “I think we’re in a reasonable place, for sure. I feel like I got up to speed, actually. I was quite surprised that my first lap was pretty good and the second lap was a good step.

“I felt like I found the limit quickly, but there was the limit, which was just holding us back a bit. Not that it was a bad day.

"Normally, we are very good on a Friday, and then everyone catches up on Saturday. We’re already a little bit behind, so we have definitely got some work to do tonight.”