When asked what was wrong as he qualified sixth in Bahrain with the quickest Formula 1 car on the grid, Lando Norris pointed to his chest.
Qualifying four tenths behind polesitting team-mate Oscar Piastri, with no significant errors on his lap but shipping time little by little in each sector, the self-critical Norris was particularly despondent over his Saturday performance, saying he needed a “reset”.
“I’ve been off every lap this weekend, just not comfortable,” he told the print media, including Motorsport.com. “No big complaints, the car’s amazing, the car’s as good as it has been all season, which is strong.”
Afterwards, team principal Andrea Stella figuratively wrapped his arm around his driver, and he said Norris and the team will have to work on making the Briton more comfortable driving the 2025 car. The MCL39 is quick – very quick – but, even before the weekend, Norris suggested it has moved away from the type of car that suits his natural driving style.
“This is a short phase,” Stella said. “We are talking about the driver that has led the journey of McLaren to the front, together with Oscar, and while pushing the car to the limit there are a few things that don’t go exactly as he expects. When you go for the extra tenth of a second in Q3, this becomes more visible.
“We understand what it is. It will just require a bit of adaptation from Lando himself and some adaptations from the team. I think the understanding is good and we are very optimistic that this will be resolved.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Fadel Senna – AFP – Getty Images
Rather than pointing fingers, Norris has only blamed himself for his blip. However, the team won’t blame Norris but will ask itself how it can better support the driver that has been instrumental to its march to the front of F1.
“I would like to stress that in being self-critical we have never seen Lando really pointing the finger at the team,” Stella explained. “To build a Formula 1 team you need to avoid this kind of finger pointing at each other between driver and teams, which I am not exactly sure every driver does based on things that sometimes I read or I hear. This is a very important quality.
“We appreciate Lando for taking the blame in these cases where he doesn’t put together a lap in Q3, but we always share the blame.
“We know that there’s a few things we can do better to make Lando more comfortable in the car. My approach is first of all to look in the mirror and say: ‘What should we do better to make Lando more comfortable and put him in a condition to use his incredible talent?'”
Stella waved away suggestions Norris’ reaction shows he is feeling the pressure of capitalising on his best opportunity to win the drivers’ title.
“This is the greatest opportunity so far,” he stressed. “I hope in the future at McLaren there will be every year opportunities for both drivers to be in contention for the drivers’ world championship.
“I’m sure there are drivers who are equally self-critical, but they keep it for themselves, and they put a screen between them and the rest of the world. Lando doesn’t have this characteristic, he’s very naturally honest, I would say, and therefore it becomes visible when he is disappointed.”
Stella believes Norris’ qualifying struggle in Bahrain is not related to his stout long-run pace, so on a circuit with high tyre wear he is backing Norris to move up the order.
“This doesn’t affect the race pace,” he concluded. “We look forward to [the race]. I think already in practice Lando has shown a very strong lap in the race-run simulations. I’m really looking forward to seeing Lando finding his way back to the front of the pack.”
In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Lando Norris
McLaren
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