McLaren Formula 1 Team drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start the Sprint race at the British Grand Prix from sixth and seventh positions respectively, following Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone Circuit on July 3, 2026.
The reigning Constructors' Champions faced challenging windy conditions during the sole practice session before unlocking more performance from their MCL40 cars.
They ended up less than a tenth of a second away from the third grid spot.
Norris overcame early front brake duct damage in SQ1 to claim a third-row spot with a lap time of 1m28.740s, despite an imbalance that compromised his car's performance in the final session.
"An unfortunate day for us in Sprint Qualifying. We had an issue in SQ1 that made the car feel completely different.
The team did a great job to fix it just before SQ3, but by the time I got a true feeling for its potential on the final lap, it was too late," Norris said.
"I felt I could have pushed way more, so it's a shame we couldn't show our true pace.
We know the speed is there and we'll work to understand what we can improve for the race."
The British driver expressed appreciation for the home crowd and remained optimistic about the team's competitiveness in the 17-lap Sprint.
"The support from the fans in Landostand and across Silverstone has been incredible. We think we can be competitive with the cars around us.
It will be a difficult fight, but we'll be giving it everything to put on a good show for the home crowd."
Piastri qualified just 0.032 seconds behind his teammate with a time of 1m28.772s, placing him on the fourth row.
"P7 is more or less what we expected.
We knew we probably weren't in the fight for the very front, and while we made some small improvements, it just wasn't enough to close the gap to the leaders," Piastri said.
"It's a shame because I felt like we got everything we could out of the car, but we've just not had the fundamental pace."
The Australian noted the close gaps to the front runners provide opportunities to optimize setup ahead of main Grand Prix Qualifying.
"We ended up close to that next group of cars, which gives us something to work with.
We'll analyse everything overnight and be ready to push hard for a better result in Qualifying tomorrow."
The session's tight margins across the entire grid were highlighted as a defining factor of the current competitive landscape.
"It was another incredibly tight session today," said Randy Singh, Senior Director, Racing.
McLaren also highlighted achievements in its driver development program, with Matteo De Palo securing fifth in FIA Formula 3 Qualifying, while Ella Lloyd and Ella Stevens qualified sixth and eleventh respectively for their upcoming races.
