McLaren faces more challenges than expected with the MCL39, as Norris highlights rear stability issues that could impact early-season performance.
McLaren F1 played with its rivals today, as Lando Norris was often on the verge of significantly improving his lap times before returning to the pits without completing his flying lap—suggesting he could have done much better than his 14th time of the day.
However, the Briton focused primarily on race pace this afternoon, and the MCL39 was impressive, showing a very strong rhythm, even superior to Leclerc’s Ferrari… though it is believed Ferrari was running with a full tank, unlike McLaren.
“Another productive day on track (77 laps) with valuable insights. We managed to complete a good number of long-run laps, and I was able to test my feeling with different tire compounds. I think we learned a lot from that, and the experience of running a race simulation was very valuable. The feeling is good so far, and we now have one more day to make sure we finish the week on a high note.”
When asked how much the MCL39 is a worthy successor to the late-season MCL38, Norris had one particular complaint about his car.
“It feels like 2024—that’s what I’ve said in previous interviews. It feels like that, which is a good starting point. That’s where we wanted to begin, at least.”
“Nothing has stood out in a major way. It’s not like much has changed compared to what we’ve tried to do—we’ve just aimed to make the car faster in all areas and add more load. That’s a very simple way to put it, honestly.”
“We always want to focus on certain areas more than others. We’ve had a bit more difficulty with the rear end than we would have liked yesterday and today. But it’s still early.”
Norris is confident that McLaren could quickly address the weakness in the rear end with the right setup adjustments if it were made a priority—so there is nothing to worry about for now.
“We are not chasing absolute performance. If we were heading into qualifying now, I’m sure we would change certain things. But today and yesterday, we were mostly sorting things out. It’s not the fun part.”
“The fun will come tomorrow morning. In that sense, I think if there’s one thing we want to improve right now, it’s still the rear of the car. The more we can improve the rear, the better everything gets.”
“But the rest feels fine, and it seems to be in the same category. That’s what we want. I don’t think we expected to have a big advantage over anyone.”
“We expect to be on par with Red Bull or Ferrari. But if we are in the fight for the title from the start, that’s great because that’s our goal. Given how the last few years have gone, if we can just be in the fight from the beginning, we’ll be happy.”
Oscar Piastri was somewhat limited by the slightly rainy conditions in the morning, completing 44 laps and setting the 13th fastest time.
“A trickier day due to the weather. The temperature and rain made it harder to optimize our test time during my session, but we were still able to work on a lot of things and complete a good number of tests.”
“I’m looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow afternoon and hopefully pushing the car further to see what we can extract before heading to Australia. Overall, it was a productive day.”
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Norris Flags Rear-End Woes as McLaren Faces Setbacks Norris Flags Rear-End Woes as McLaren Faces Setbacks Norris Flags Rear-End Woes as McLaren Faces Setbacks
