Lando Norris believes his team are not in an ideal position heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix
Lando Norris had a busy outing in the Bahrain pre-season test. With team-mate Daniel Ricciardo unavailable due to Covid-19, Norris had to drive on all three days of the test. However, that didn’t go well as McLaren struggled to adapt to the conditions of Bahrain.
Norris could complete only 200 laps with his new MCL36 and be severely hampered by braking issues throughout the session. While the first two days were pretty average for the team, Norris did have a decent outing on the final day. He set the ninth-fastest time of the field on Day 3 with 90 laps under his belt.
Norris believes the Bahrain test was “less than ideal” for McLaren and the team has work to do before the lights go out on March 20 for the season opener – the Bahrain Grand Prix. “It’s not been the smoothest of tests for us. It’s been quite limited in Bahrain. I think Barcelona was a good one but here we’ve encountered quite a few more problems, which have limited the laps we have done by quite a huge amount“, the British driver said summing up the Bahrain test.He further added, “We’ve had problems especially on the longer run – the lower fuel and shorter runs we’ve been able to do but not the high fuel runs. It’s not great but we’re getting through as much as we can. We’re definitely making progress, but certainly not in the position we want to be.”
Where do things stand for McLaren after the pre-season?
McLaren appeared to be one of the strongest teams this season after the Barcelona. The team’s new MCL36 car looks in good shape as evident in pre-season running in Barcelona. The UK-based team has a strong drivers’ line up in Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris. Norris was one of the most impressive drivers in the sessions in Barcelona. Ricciardo and Norris completed a solid 365 laps in Barcelona which put them third in the mileage charts.
In the Bahrain test though, McLaren didn’t have an ideal outing. However, Norris is confident that McLaren can overcome their braking issues and find a solution to fulfil their lofty standards. “I think we are on top of it. We know what the problems are, we know what we are suffering with and so on. We are unsure if we have the perfect fix until we get to next week and put it all together”, said Norris.
The 22-year old further added, “The team is working hard to understand the problems, obviously why they happened in the first place and why we encounter them and then work on the fix for next week.” There is work to do for McLaren before the season opener on March 20. The team will be looking to sort things out in time before the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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