Unfortunate conclusion for Norris: 'Mercedes really still ahead of us'

Norris points to the fact that the team started the race with a slightly larger rear wing than the competition. On a wet track, this would give the team more grip, but in dry conditions it mainly reduced top speed. That the set-up worked in the rain was shown by teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished handsomely second in the sprint race as a rookie.

"I don't think we've had the optimal wing settings, we just haven't been able to focus on what we wanted to because we bought a whole new car and not a lot of the focus was on doing that which is the correct thing to do because you know there's only three or four races which are probably as low downforce as this so maybe we'll put a bit more focus on but all of our focus was on just trying to deliver the new car that we've had a few weeks ago and that's clearly delivered us two podiums. So I'd much rather take that and a couple  of bad weekends than just be below par the whole time. But yeah this is where we were, I think even on tyre deg we went back to normal, we were  pretty shocking with tyre deg again on all tyres, soft, medium and hard so like I said, I'm kind of happy it happened in a way, we've had some good weekends but we're not where we need to be, we're not up racing with Mercedes and all of those cars, they're clearly another step ahead of us still."

Reality check

Nevertheless, the Belgian Grand Prix was a reality check for the youngster. The McLaren cannot compete for the podium every weekend. "That's where we are. I'm actually glad we know that now. "We've had some good weekends but we're not where we need to be, we're not up racing with Mercedes and all of those cars, they're clearly another step ahead of us still."