Norris Mastering McLaren's Potential in F1 2024

In 2024, Lando Norris has enhanced his ability to maximize McLaren’s F1 car potential, showcasing significant improvement in qualifying and race strategy.

Andrea Stella is pleased to see Lando Norris addressing his weaknesses in qualifying. The McLaren F1 driver made several mistakes last year under crucial conditions, such as in Qatar where he missed the Sprint pole due to an error, although he could have led ahead of Oscar Piastri, who won the Sprint.

“I think what Lando has done this year is that he has been able to capitalize on a lot of points and opportunities that we identified last year,” explained Stella. “For example, one of them is performance in qualifying.”

“How to string together good laps in qualifying? Last year, he was fast, but we had several situations, like in Qatar, where he could have been on pole and his two laps in Q3 were deleted. There were many lessons to learn from this situation and others.”

“He has done a very good job working on these opportunities with his engineers and the support from the factory. And making a few small adjustments to be able to exploit the potential of the car to a greater extent. So, it is all to his credit.”

The Italian also praises his driver’s progress in race management, especially in understanding the tires. According to him, this is part of the broader progress that Norris is making.

“And I think in the race, Lando seems to become more and more consistent and more and more capable of understanding what’s happening with the tires, which tires are losing performance, how long these tires can last. It’s just what we normally call the racing machine, which is becoming bigger and more precise.”