(Motorsports news) McLaren’s Norris overtook Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the start of Sunday’s United States Grand Prix. But he couldn’t stop Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from winning his 15th in the season and had to allow Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes pass in the dying moments. Following that, Norris was upgraded back to second when Hamilton was disqualified for excessive plank wear, giving the Briton third place in three of the last four races.

While Norris described Sunday as “still an amazing day for us” considering McLaren’s improvement, he believes his best prospects of winning his first Grand Prix in 2023 have passed. “Do I believe our best chances have passed us by?” “I’d say yes,” Norris replied. “I believe our best chance of winning a race was in Qatar.” And I didn’t get that one.

“I don’t want to say no, and I don’t say never.” I believe there are no super-fast, Suzuka-style, Qatar-style tracks remaining, which is where McLaren excel. I don’t think there are any good ones coming up for us,” he continued. I believe our best have left. “I just want to be hopeful that we can do good results and I think we can still fight for podiums but these guys are too quick for me.”

Norris’ judgment is based on McLaren’s Achilles heel, its recurrent weakness in low-speed corners, which could come back to bother them in all four remaining races in Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, and Abu Dhabi. “If you looked at the GPS overlays of how bad we are in the slow speed areas, I’m not looking forward to Brazil,” he went on to say.

“I believe we’ll be quite shocking there.” The best are undoubtedly in Vegas and Abu Dhabi.” Norris appeared to be suffering in Austin’s Turn 11 Hairpin, locking up his front left on Lap 25 before handing up the lead to Verstappen. That slow left-hander, according to team principal Andrea Stella, provided more confirmation that the Woking squad’s low-speed difficulties have not been resolved, which will have to wait until the 2024 vehicle.

Also read: Ferrari had “something wrong in our numbers” in the F1 US GP, according to Leclerc