SEPANG: World champion Lando Norris (pic) found himself wrestling with an uncooperative McLaren in yesterday’s qualifying for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, attributing his team’s struggles to the circuit’s unique surface.

Norris qualified sixth-fastest, six tenths of a second slower than pole sitter Max Verstappen, but will start fifth after Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar received a grid penalty that drops him from third to eighth.