Lando Norris admits McLaren’s improved Formula 1 package is still not performing to “my liking”, saying the MCL60 doesn’t play to his strengths.
McLaren made huge strides when it introduced the eagerly-awaited first part of its major mid-season upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix, with Norris going on to secure consecutive podiums at the following two races.
The upswing in form has not gone unnoticed by McLaren’s rivals, who have tipped the Woking-based team to be a regular contender at the front of the grid to the rest of the year.
But despite McLaren’s recent surge, Norris insists the car has to be driven in a certain way that doesn’t suit his driving style.
Asked what he needed from the MCL60 to be more suited to him, Norris said, as quoted by Motorsport.com: “It’s not just my liking, it’s also Oscar’s because we have pretty similar comments. Same as last year, even when Daniel [Ricciardo] was driving, we had a lot of similar comments, every day, every weekend.
“It’s difficult to describe. You have to drive it quite one way. But it’s also a way that I don’t want to drive, or like to drive.
“I don’t like to drive the car the way that I have to drive it now. I feel like it isn’t to my strengths at all.
“I want to be able to carry minimum speed and to ‘U’ a corner. And the last thing I can do in the world now is ‘U’ a corner. I have to ‘V’ the corner more than ever, and I’ve never been the biggest fan of doing that. And I don’t like it that much.”
Norris explained the challenge he has faced trying to adapt to McLaren’s improved 2023 challenger, while expanding on where the cars strengths lie.
“Basically, the car only likes to go in a straight line,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t even go very quick in a straight line either!
“But we’re very good under braking, in straight line braking, which is why we were so quick in the wet at times. I wouldn’t say we’re quick in the wet as a general note, we’re quick in the wet when braking is a big key, like in Monaco. It builds tyre temperature, builds confidence.
“That’s when we’re quick, but we’re not actually quick in the corners when it’s wet. So there’s certain things which allow us to be competitive.
“But it’s just to be able to have scope to do different lines, and drive in different ways. If the wind changes, if conditions change, different fuel loads, tyre degradation, we still always have to drive in one specific way.
“And it’s not a way that I currently like, it’s one that I’ve had to adapt to. I still have to adapt a lot as a driver, and it’s far away from the car that I want to be able to drive.”
Norris, who is in his fifth season at McLaren, said the team’s ongoing weakness the past few years has been slow speed corners that remains a clear area it wants to address.
“I don’t think it’s specifically [us], because a lot of comments I know that other people have are the same in a way,” Norris said.
“But we’re one of the slowest cars in the slow speed corners, and it’s also for these reasons, it’s just they’re not quite as bad. It’s just an area that’s been bad for us over the last five years that we’ve not really tackled that well. And at no point have we gone, ‘Wow, the slow speed’s strong, now let’s work on the high speed.’
“It’s always been good in high speed, poor in slow speed. But as a general point with these tyres, just how you have to drive them, it’s very difficult to combine. They only like to go almost in a straight line at any point, they don’t like to corner.
“So you kind of have to make the car a little bit around this, but the better you make the car, the less stress you can put on the tyres and things like that.”
