Lando Norris admits McLaren’s pace when deploying DRS in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix was “pretty shocking”, after the team left Spa empty-handed.
Norris started near the back of the grid due to a grid penalty for changing engine components, but was unable to make the progress he’d hoped.
Unlike the cars around him, Norris found himself stuck in a DRS train for most of the race, limiting his opportunity to charge through the field and score some much-needed points for McLaren’s constructors’ championship hopes.
The British driver came home 12th, while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo dropped back from a seventh place starting position having been forced to change his low-drag set-up that left him slow on the straights.
While Norris faired much better on Spa’s long straights, the lack of pace suggests McLaren could face a deficit in straightline speed compared to its rivals.
“I think we were probably one of the quicker ones on the straights,” Norris said, as quoted by The Race.
“Where we lose a lot is in DRS for some reason. In DRS we’re pretty shocking, some cars are a lot better than others.
“Like, in a pure straightline condition, I think yesterday [Saturday] we were quicker than Red Bull.
“But then the Red Bull opens DRS and gains another 15kph and is a completely different league to a lot of people, [so there’s] something we’re maybe missing with DRS.
“Maybe that makes our overtaking opportunities less than other people.
“Straightline we were probably one of the quickest this weekend. In the final sector, one of the quickest times yesterday. But just slow in the medium- and high-speed corners, nothing was a strength this weekend.”
Norris admitted in the early stages of the race he realised his quest for points would be difficult, as he was one of a number of cars stuck behind Alex Albon’s Williams.
While Norris struggled to make progress from 17th on the grid, Esteban Ocon cut his way through the pack to finish in P7, which Norris put down to Alpine being “a lot quicker than us.”
McLaren’s 2022 car has been famed for being quick over one lap but unable to carry that performance through to a Sunday, which Norris acknowledged after his point-less run at Spa.
“We’re always quicker on a Saturday than a Sunday,” Norris added.
“That’s just a fact, everybody is closer together on a Saturday than Sunday. Maybe we take a slightly bigger step back on a Sunday than other teams, but I think that’s because we always do a good job on Saturday.
“I feel like I extract a lot of the car on a Saturday. I feel like a lot of other teams have much better cars and don’t do as good a job… I could be wrong. I’m probably wrong.
“The car performed how we expected, and our expectation was that it’s not going to be too good.”
McLaren’s non-score at Spa leaves it with an even greater deficit to Alpine in the standings after Ocon and team-mate Alonso’s double points finish.
Norris is pinning hopes on Zandvoort playing more to McLaren’s strengths, but is wary of how the team struggled at the circuit last year.
“High-downforce track hopefully means more in line with Budapest kind of pace I hope but you never know as it was our worst track last season,” Norris said.
“Hoping this season not the case because some of the problems we had in previous years are maybe not so evident this year, now we’ve got other problems, so we’ll see.
“Can’t be a lot worse than this weekend.”
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