Tag Archives: lando-norris

Norris could manage only fourth in sprint qualifying

McLaren’s Austin update package unveiled at the Formula 1 US GP is not the last of the season with more updates expected to come over the “next events.”

The package declared for the Austin weekend includes a new front wing and associated front suspension changes, revised front and rear brake ducts, and a new single element beam wing.

However there are no changes to the floor, which has remained largely unchanged since Miami in May.

Lando Norris was fourth in sprint qualifying on Friday, acknowledging that there had been some balance issues as the team adjusted to the new package.

McLaren technical director of engineering Neil Houldley confirmed that more updates that were not signed off for use in time for Austin will be seen at upcoming races. Although he gave no details logic suggests that the floor will be one area that will change.

“We brought a lot of upgrades, or a lot of small upgrades for this event, said Houldley of the Austin package. “I don’t really want to go into too many details about what will appear at the next events, but there’ll be more coming, for sure.

“I think what we’ve been doing is just continue our development progress throughout the year. And at the moment, it turns out, really, that what we want to do is bring something that we know works. So we’re not trying to deliver something early.

“We’re in a good position in the championship. But what we don’t want to do is, is bring any confusion into the team about the results of the components we’re bringing. So we’re waiting, and bringing them when they’re ready.

“Aerodynamically, we already know the upgrades that we’re going to be bringing to the next couple of events. So they’re ready in that sense, but they’re very much in manufacture, back at the factory.”

Houldley said the fact that Austin is a sprint weekend with limited practice did not influence the decision: “Not at all. We’re just ensuring that when we bring the parts, they’re the right ones, and they’re going to bring performance to the track.

“Actually the regulations that make it a little bit easier sometimes for a sprint event, when you’ve only got one component. For us we just bring it to the event that we can get it to in the fastest possible way. So whether it’s a sprint or a standard event doesn’t make a difference to us.”

The team only has one example of the new wing, which will be used by Lando Norris.

Asked by this writer if the cars were in the same spec Houldley sad. “Everything, apart from the front wing, we’ve got quantities of that both drivers can use.

“The front wing we’ve only got one of at this event, so we’re going to run that with both drivers in the practice session, and then it’s going to be given to Lando for the rest of the weekend.

“It just takes a while to develop and manufacture the parts, but they’ll all be available for Oscar in the next event.”

Verstappen is in the spotlight – but he’s trying to keep the pressure off

Max Verstappen says he is taking the rest of the 2024 Formula 1 season from weekend to weekend and not wasting energy on thinking too much about the big picture of the title battle.

Verstappen also rated his chances of winning as “50-50” heading into the final run of six races.

The Dutchman currently holds a lead of 52 points over rival Lando Norris, with the gap having shrunk over recent races.

After a frustrating Italian GP Verstappen said it was “not realistic” to win the championship if the RB20 didn’t improve.

However the team has built on lessons learned that weekend, and those are reflected in the Austin update package.

“It’s 50-50, yes or no,” he said when asked about his title chances. “I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot that can go well or can go wrong, in the six races, plus sprint races as well.

“So nothing is guaranteed from both sides. We’ll see. I prefer not really to think ahead too much, and really live from weekend to weekend.”

Asked if that really was his assessment of his chances he said: “It just because you say you win it or not, which is 50-50! So that’s why. I mean, I don’t really like to think about it too much.

“Like I said, I just live from race weekend to race weekend, because otherwise you’re just putting unnecessary thoughts in your head, which also costs energy, which I don’t want to waste. I’m thinking too much about racing.”

Verstappen also rejected the suggestion that he was under pressure over the last six races.

“You could say yes, but I’m not,” he said. “Because I know that when I jump in the car, I try to do the best I can. When the car is capable of good results, I’ll deliver the results.

“And yeah, when it’s not, then it will be a bit more difficult. Of course, naturally, I like to win races and championships. But yeah, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, it’s how life is.”

Verstappen said he hasn’t run the update package in the Milton Keynes simulator, an indication perhaps of how recently it was signed off and sent into production.

“I actually didn’t try it,” he said. “So let’s see. We don’t have a lot of time to really test everything, but we’ll see how it goes. To be honest I don’t know at the moment what it will give.

“For sure, we learned a lot from Monza, and this definitely is from the learnings of Monza.”

Asked if it could close the gap to McLaren he said: “If you look at the pace in Singapore, the difference, for sure not. But every track is different.

“We know that Singapore is not our strongest track anyway I don’t expect that it’s going to be completely different, and we are going to be the dominating car.

“We have our limitations a bit with this car already the whole year. Now we’re trying to make it better. But, yeah, don’t expect it to completely swing.”

He admitted that it’s difficult to introduce an update on a sprint weekend with only FP1 in which to test it.

“You rely more on data then, because in one session, it’s very hard,” he said. Because you just start with the car, right? That’s the package, and you try to balance it, try to find the best setup on it.

“And then you rely, of course, on the data. Also from the engineers, if they’re happy with the upgrade or not.”

Norris made it look easy with a dominant victory in Singapore. But he had a couple of close shaves…

Lando Norris admits that he was “pushing too hard” on his way to a dominant victory for his McLaren Formula 1 team in the Singapore GP.

Norris twice touched the wall, losing some four seconds on the first occasion, as he tried to extend the gap to Max Verstappen in second place.

His advantage peaked at 29.1 seconds, which would have comfortably allowed him to pit and go for fastest lap had he needed to, before he allowed it to drop down again over the closing laps.

Norris is now 52 points behind Verstappen in the World Championship standings.

“I was flat out,” he said. “I was probably pushing a bit too hard. It was definitely not like I was cruising. I was pushing to open up a gap, and at one point I wanted to try and open up a pit window to give myself an opportunity to maybe box at the end of the race for quickest lap if I needed to try and achieve that. Daniel [Ricciardo] stole that away from me at the end of the race.

“So, yeah, a tough one, but it wasn’t easy. The car was not easy to drive, especially on the hard tyres. I struggled a lot more than what I did on the medium.

“And especially just with the traffic and things, it was a bit harder to manage the second half of the stint compared to the first, but I was pushing. Let me tell you, I was definitely pushing.

“Probably too much, hence the mistakes I was making, or the two mistakes I made with the wall, but otherwise things were going well.”

Norris said that the brushes with the wall didn’t affect the performance of his car: “I don’t think so. I mean, the team said that there was something with the front wing, maybe being a little bit off.

“I hit the front wing against the barrier, so it might have tweaked it a touch, but I don’t think probably much to change it, but hard to know.

“On these cars, as soon as you tweak something a tiny bit, it can have quite a big impact, but nothing that I was probably feeling.

“I was pushing, but also it was just as I was catching up to the dirty air from the cars ahead, whether they were 3-4 seconds ahead. It changes from the past 20 laps that I had.

“You have a little bit less grip, a little bit less downforce. Tyres are going away a little bit. It just caught me out. So it wasn’t like a lack of concentration or anything. It was just a bit of a surprise to me.

“But I think the car was all good, and the car has been mega weekend. So a big thanks to the team.”

Norris says that the MCL38 continues to have the potential to be quick everywhere, having won three of the four races held since the summer break.

“We’ve not changed anything on the car from here to last weekend or the weekend before,” he said.

“It was just that the car’s been mega for a good amount of time. I’ve not been able to come out on top for quite a few of them when I felt like I had the pace, and I had the ability to do so.

“So some of that is down to being my own fault and not executing things well enough. So I’ve paid the price for not doing a good enough job at times. But when I lead after Turn 1, and things are a bit more straightforward, then we can have a day like today.”

Stella suggests that nothing is set in stone on team orders…

McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella says that the team will continue to review what he calls the “principles” of how team orders might be deployed,

Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP Stella confirmed that priority would be given to Lando Norris in the World Championship battle, and that Oscar Piastri would help if asked.

However a poor qualifying position for Norris left Piastri to win in Baku, and in an unusual twist Norris played his part by holding up Sergio Perez after the Mexican pitted, thus ensuring that his team mate stayed ahead of the Red Bull driver.

“I said already that we have two number one drivers effectively, and having two number one drivers means that we approach things first of all in the interest of the team,” said Stella after the Baku race.

“The interest of the team is to win the constructors’ championship, and yes, is to win also the drivers’ championship.

“Lando was in the most favourable position before this race. I think he still is in the most favourable position. So more naturally, we would have supported Lando.

“But I think we have evidence today that actually, interestingly, it was Lando supporting Oscar and enabling Oscar’s victory, thanks to driving for the team, and driving to support his teammate.

“So I think that remains our approach. We always intended to review after every event, with each driver, with the drivers together, what was going to be the best approach for the next races. We will do it, and set the plan for Singapore.”

Stella indicated that the team has to remain flexible and deal with each race situation as it arises.

“I think we lead this by principles, which is slightly different than rules,” he said. “I think with the principles, you leave yourself a space to assess every situation. But you have your guiding beacons as to what you judge is right.

“When you define rules, they become quite defining. And then you have to go through a thousand cases and see, like, what is the rule here?

“I think what’s important for me is that we did have a good conversation after Monza, because the three of us, Lando, myself and Oscar, we all agreed that entering a chicane in P1, P2 and exiting P1, P3 is just not acceptable, because it is infringing our first principle, which is the team’s interest comes first, if that makes sense.

“So we definitely tightened up in our conversations in relation to these kinds of situations. We knew that if any of the two drivers needed assistance, we would give it.

“And like I said before, it’s interesting that now it was the time for Lando to help Oscar. We will now review this race, and we will talk to the drivers, and we will define and tune the plan as we go onto the next races.”

Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner says that Oscar Piastri’s strong form is “causing headaches” for McLaren as the Woking team attempts to win the drivers’ championship with Lando Norris.

McLaren confirmed before the Azerbaijan GP that where possible Piastri would henceforth support Norris’s title bid, although there was a significant grey area in that Norris said he didn’t want his team mate to give up a race win.

Any team orders became irrelevant in Baku where Piastri won the race and Norris recovered to fourth from a poor grid position.

Piastri now has 222 points to the 254 of Norris, and is thus still mathematically in the fight in his own right, albeit 91 shy of leader Max Verstappen.

“Usually they are things that are dealt with behind closed doors,” said Horner when asked about McLaren’s team orders situation. “So I’m not actually sure what those rules are. There still seems some confusion.

“Every team is different. Our rules of engagement are very clear, and what the focus to end of the year is.

“We’ve got a driver that’s fighting for a World Championship. It’s a team sport. So it’s very clear that Checo’s job is there to support Max the end of the year.”

He added: “Different teams operate different ways. When you’ve got an asset like Max Verstappen, you don’t make him a number two driver.

“They’re paying [Norris] five times what they pay Oscar, so I would assume that he would be their number one driver, or their biggest asset.

“So therefore, the confusion comes when you’re not upfront from the beginning of what your plans are.”

Asked if McLaren should consider Norris a clear number Horner made some intriguing observations not just about Red Bull’s rivals, but about his own team’s history.

 “I think the other one is causing them headaches, because he’s winning races, and he’s doing a very good job.

“So it was like when Daniel Ricciardo came to us [in 2014], he was clearly supposed to be the number two to Sebastian Vettel, and he won three races that year to Sebastian’s none.

“Sometimes it causes you a headache like that. For sure, they took Oscar with the expectation, as Mercedes did with probably George, and Ferrari did with Carlos, that you’ve got a prime asset, and a support asset.

“And of course, when the second driver starts outperforming the first driver, that’s when you tend to have a have a headache.”

Horner suggested that having two top drivers is not easy.

“It becomes a very difficult problem to manage,” he said. “Because you split the team, and the rules of engagement become very, very difficult.

“Everybody knows probably who the number one and number two is, but if you’re not up front with the drivers, you end up with confusion.

“So I think going into a race, into any race, and obviously at the beginning of the season, it’s all open. But certainly when you get around the halfway point, you’ve got to pick a horse. Especially if you’re in a championship battle.”

Red Bull Racing Formula 1 boss Christian Horner believes that it was inevitable that Max Verstappen and Lando Norris would end up in an incident after battling for the lead at several recent races.

The pair made contact in the late stages of the Austrian GP after Verstappen thwarted several earlier attempts to get past, leaving Norris complaining that the Dutchman was moving in the braking area.

The touch left both men with rear punctures and put Norris out of the race, while Verstappen managed to salvage fifth after stopping for a new tyre, despite picking up a 10-second penalty that in the end made no difference to his result.

“I think it’s inevitable given how close they’ve been racing the last few weeks,” said Horner of the contact. “It’s a shame. Lando was already on four [track limits] strikes. He was probably going to get a five-second penalty anyway. And it was a racing incident.

“I thought it was a bit harsh that Max got a 10-second penalty. His race had already been damaged by the puncture that he picked up.”

Horner believes that Norris’s attacking mood was in part a reaction to the previous day’s sprint, when he passed Verstappen at Turn 3 only to lose out not only to the Dutchman but also his McLaren own team mate Oscar Piastri at the following corner.

“I think Max is a hard racer,” he said. “And they know that. I think Lando was trying to make up for yesterday, and it was inevitable, you could see this building perhaps for a couple of races, that at some point there was going to be something close between the two of them.

“He was getting his elbows out. Probably a bit of a hangover from yesterday. Max passed him without DRS down into Turn 4, and then he got mugged by his teammate.

“So there’s probably a little bit of a hangover of that. But it was a shame, because we had everything under control today. And I think the final pit stop put Lando back into contention, and then with the advantage on tyre that he had, that was enough to get him into the DRS.” 

Horner was adamant that Norris wouldn’t have caught Verstappen in the final stint without the pit stop delay, despite having a new tyre advantage.

“The first part of the race was going very well,” said Horner. “We pulled out a six-second gap I think in the first stint on the medium tyre, everything was under control. On the hard tyre, the temperatures with the cloud cover a bit lower, we still got up to an eight-second lead at one point. By the time they’d gone through the traffic, it was about six-and-a-half.

“We then pitted on the same lap as McLaren, and there was a sticking left rear nut, and the gun man just had to go on it twice. I think it was six-second stop, we lost four seconds, and that then put Lando on a fresh set of mediums versus a scrubbed set for Max, he got that new tyre advantage.

“Had they gone out six seconds apart, he’d have probably closed the gap, but I think we’d have had enough to manage it in those final laps.”

Looking at the positives Horner added: “The pace of the car has been very strong, we’ve had two poles, he’s led all but nine laps of the race, the sprint race yesterday. He’s extended his lead in the championship. We’ve extended our lead, I think, in the constructors’ championship. So despite not getting the win, it’s not been totally disastrous.”

Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner says that Max Verstappen’s pace in the Miami GP was hampered by floor damage sustained when the Dutchman hit a bollard at the chicane.

Later in the race after a safety car period gave Lando Norris a free stop and the lead Verstappen was unable to challenge the McLaren driver, and gradually fell back.

Horner insisted that the consequences of the earlier incident played a role in allowing Norris to make his escape and consign Verstappen to second place.

“I don’t think we had a great balance all weekend, and then obviously he hit the bollard around lap 20,” he said. “And that’s actually done quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car. So we’d have to look at exactly what the effect of that was.

“He had enough pace at that point, he was he was pulling clear of Oscar [Piastri] behind, and Lando, before we picked up that damage. And then obviously thereafter we then pitted. And the safety car came out at the best time for Lando, it gave him essentially a free stop.

“But obviously not great for us, because then you’re on tyres that are six laps, seven laps older. And with the damage, I think that actually second place was actually still a pretty decent result.”

Expanding on the extent of the damage he said: “It’s a reasonable amount – the area around the left rear floor, there’s a reasonable amount that’s missing, and you can see it will be flexing as well. So it certainly wouldn’t be helpful.”

Asked if Norris had the pace to win without the aid of a safety car intervention giving him track position Horner said it was impossible to know.

“I think what we saw today was it was very difficult to come through the traffic,” he noted. “Who knows? That’s something that we won’t be able to answer, because there wasn’t a huge amount of overtaking in the top 10.

“So it would have all depended on where he came out after his pitstop, which would probably have been third or fourth.”

Horner insisted that with Verstappen’s Saturday sprint win taking into account it had still been a successful weekend for Red Bull.

“I think we have to congratulate Lando on his first victory,” he said. “It’s always a big moment for any grand prix driver to win their first race.

“So congrats to him and to McLaren. But we’ve still managed to score the most points in the drivers’ this weekend with the sprint race yesterday, and the most in the constructors’ as well. So it’s still been a very strong weekend.”

Regarding McLaren’s form he added: “They had good pace in the second half of the race. They were quick on the medium in the sprint race quali.

“We still managed well two poles here this weekend, a sprint victory and we were leading the race had it not been for the safety car. But you can see they’ve definitely made a step forward. So it will be then interesting to see what happens over the next few races once we head back to Europe.”