Lando Norris remains on guard after the Barcelona tests

For his fourth season with the British team, Lando Norris remains cautious in his statements. However, Norris took the fastest time on the first day of testing. A performance he would have rather avoided.

« Now that we are in P1, everyone will think that we will win the [first] race. No chance. I think we have made some good improvements since the beginning of the day, but we are only on the first day of the season and if we are incredible now, everything could change when we get to the first race. […] I didn’t want to be P1. I would have preferred to be last because now the expectations are really high and everyone thinks we’re incredible, the driver confided at the end of the first day of testing. And he didn’t change his mind afterwards.

A nuanced reaction for Norris

Lando Norris achieved the fourth-best time of the week in Barcelona after completing 155 laps. However, the driver mentions that the tests were far from perfect.

On one hand, Mercedes driver George Russell admitted to being impressed by McLaren. But on the other hand, Norris has a much more contrasting speech.

George is obviously at the top of the timesheet, so if he thinks we are strong, we will think he is strong […]. So no, I don’t think we are in an excellent position. I think we are in a good position. We had a car that, as soon as we put it on the track, runs well. Of course, there are always new things and some unexpected problems here and there. But it was a good start, revealed Lando Norris.

Moreover, he also expressed himself about the weight of the new race cars. The weight makes a huge difference for the driving, how the car reacts. It is much heavier than last season. Indeed, the weight of the cars went from 752kg to 795kg in 2022. A phenomenon that the drivers mainly attribute to the 18-inch tires. So, we have the impression of being a bit slower, a bit more sluggish. It’s like driving with last season’s racing fuel before a qualifying lap, in a way. You feel it in the braking and in certain areas. The performance is not really the same. But it shouldn’t take too long [to adapt], and I think at the end of the day, you get a little more used to it and it starts to feel almost normal again. That’s what the British driver revealed.

The weight seems to be a relatively disturbing element for the drivers, a factor that Lando Norris is not the only one to mention. At Haas, the German Mick Schumacher had the same answer to this question: “I think the main element is the weight. Obviously, it plays a role in almost every corner. Especially in the slow corners.”

Next appointment on the drivers’ calendar: Bahrain from March 10th.