"I've been slow this whole weekend," claims Norris as he reflects on his qualifying performance

On the back of a difficult qualifying session in Sakhir, McLaren driver Lando Norris has revealed that he has he struggled for a consistent performance so far in Bahrain.

McLaren were once again miles ahead of the field in FP3, setting up what looked like a two horse race for pole. Both made it to Q3 with ease, but chose to run used tyres at the start of the shootout despite having two fresh sets at their disposal.

Although Mercedes and Ferrari managed to close in on McLaren for the final stages of qualifying, Piastri delivered when it mattered to take his second career pole position after having secure his maiden pole in Suzuka a week ago.

However, Norris couldn’t follow suit as he made a crucial mistake in Turn 1 on his final push lap. his mistake meant that he didn’t just miss out on pole, he wound up a lowly sixth – a surprising result considering how strong McLaren looked all weekend.

When pushed to elaborate on what happened as the session drew to a close, the championship leader explained: “I was just slow. I’ve been slow this whole weekend, to be honest. Nothing too surprising, honestly. I’ve just been off it.

“I feel like I’ve just never driven an F1 car before. I’m struggling a lot, I don’t know why. I need to try and find some answers. A disappointing day.

The Briton explained that while his MCL39 has been "amazing", he has struggled to put his laps together which led to his disappointing qualifying position.

"The car’s been amazing, so thank you to the team for their hard work. I’ve just been struggling at times to put together the laps that counted, and this has cost me some positions in Qualifying today.

"However, we have strong race pace, and we’ll work hard overnight to prepare and look forward to tomorrow’s race, where we will fight to find our way back to the front."