McLaren showed extremely strong race pace during the practice sessions in Jeddah but Norris said he was “going to need a bit of luck” in the grand prix.
He said that to “get close” to Verstappen, Piastri and Norris was “not very realistic”.
“It’s almost impossible to overtake around here, so I’m not expecting anything magical,” Norris said.
“But we have a good car, so if we can work our way up to the top five, six, I will say I’ll be happy.”
Norris lost control on the exit of Turn Four, his car sliding on to the kerb at Turn Five and flicking into the wall on the exit.
He swore and called himself an “idiot” over the radio to his team in the immediate aftermath of the accident.
“Makes sense,” he later said of his frustration in the car. “I agree with it. I should be fighting for pole and, especially on a Q1 lap, not taking any silly risks like I seem to have done.
“We will review it but it’s not a guarantee we would have been on pole, because Red Bull were quick the whole qualifying.
“It would have been nice to be in that fight. I was doing well until then and feeling comfortable. I shunted, so I am not going to be proud, I’m not going to be happy, I’ve let myself and the team down and the guys have a big job to do to fix it.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the crash was a reflection of Norris’ struggles with the behaviour of this year’s car.
“In Q3, when Lando tries to squeeze a few more milliseconds out of the car, the car doesn’t respond as he expects,” Stella said.
“This is a behaviour that kind of surprises him. Today it surprised him. The car understeered a bit in corner four, ended up on the outside kerb, and this outside kerb can be quite unforgiving.
“It’s an episode that I think starts from some of the work that we have done on the car. It made the car faster overall, but I think it took something away from Lando in terms of predictability of the car once he pushes the car at the limit.
“So it’s the responsibility of the team to try to improve the car and to try and correct this behaviour. Because we want Lando to be confident, comfortable, that he can push the car.”
Verstappen, eight points behind Norris in the championship, said he was surprised to have been in the fight for pole after a difficult time through the practice sessions, adding that until taking pole he had been “not very confident” for the race.
“My long runs weren’t particularly great compared to Oscar or Lando,” he said. “Naturally, with how the car was reacting today, it will be a bit better. But I don’t think it’ll be enough to be super competitive.
“But the car definitely took a bit of a step forward compared to what we were testing yesterday. So I hope that will help our tyre life out as well, but difficult to say that gives an opportunity to fight.”
