Engine issue leaves Norris sixth as Verstappen takes pole at Sepang

Lando Norris was left six tenths off pole at Sepang on Saturday after a power unit problem hampered McLaren’s straight-line speed throughout qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen claiming pole position for Red Bull.

Norris set a 1m35.757s to take sixth on the grid, a margin of just 0.005s ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri in seventh. When asked directly whether a power unit issue was costing him on the straights, the defending champion’s answer was blunt: “Yeah.”

“I felt like my lap was very strong,” Norris said. “I’m just down on every single straight, so every time I get a good exit, I’m just slower at the end of the straight. It just hurts seeing this every single time. I should be higher up, not because I could have done a better job necessarily, but just because we’re not getting everything out of the car that we need to. That doesn’t make my life tough today, but it also makes it tough for tomorrow.”

The problem is rooted in the complexity of the 2026 regulations, which introduced significantly more intricate power units. As a customer team, McLaren entered the new era without the same depth of knowledge as works outfits, placing them at an immediate disadvantage. A step forward came at Spa in July when McLaren received updated components, but Sepang has exposed that further gains are still needed.

The weekend has been difficult from the outset for the reigning constructors’ champions, who finished 11th and 12th in FP1 before recovering to no higher than third in the two subsequent practice sessions.

Piastri acknowledged that the Sepang circuit is a particularly unforgiving venue for the MCL40’s current weaknesses. “It really exposes” the car’s limitations, he said, pointing to the combination of high-speed corners and long straights that punish any deficit in power or aerodynamic efficiency.

On race pace, McLaren showed more promise. Piastri noted the team ranked second on long-run averages in practice, around two tenths behind Red Bull, though he cautioned the sample size was smaller than their rivals’. “For the amount of laps we did, it looks quite good, but not spectacular compared to everyone else,” he said.

With tyre degradation expected to be a significant factor on Sunday, Piastri suggested strategy could shuffle the order but stopped short of predicting a dramatic swing in McLaren’s favour. “I don’t expect it to be a wildly different picture tomorrow,” he said.