Lando Norris Reacts to McLaren Upgrades While Mercedes 'Are Quicker'

Lando Norris discusses McLaren's upgrades and the fierce competition from Mercedes at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Jun 8, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; McLaren driver Lando Norris (GBR) races during qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Lando Norris has shared his thoughts on McLaren's recent performance upgrades at this year's Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, where the competitive heat, particularly from Mercedes, is rising. The practice day on August 23 served as a testing ground for McLaren's first significant upgrades since Miami, which previously propelled Norris to his first Grand Prix win.

At the Formula 1 World Championship's 15th race, the upgrades seemed to hold promise. Norris led the field in the first practice session which experienced mixed wet and dry conditions. However, by the second practice, he placed fourth amid gusty winds:

"It was a nice first day back in the car, but a bit of progress needs to be made before tomorrow. Mercedes are quicker, it's close."

Norris elaborated on the competitiveness of his rivals, reflecting the day's uncertainty:

"I don’t think there is a quickest; it just depends on different factors. We’ve been in good form since Miami, but we’ve not really brought any updates since then. This weekend’s our first time trying to make a bit more progress with the car. I have no idea if it’s working or not, or how it’s performing at the minute, but today was a reasonable day and we’re there or thereabouts."

His teammate, Oscar Piastri, also felt optimistic, placing second in FP2, narrowly trailing Mercedes' George Russell by only 0.061 seconds. Piastri seemed pleased with the car's pace:

"Our one-lap pace looked pretty good. I need to look at our long-run pace, but it looked pretty solid. Mercedes looked quick again, so I’m expecting it to be a pretty hard-fought weekend once again."

Team Principal Andrea Stella noted the advantage of the varied conditions, which allowed McLaren to thoroughly test the car under different tire setups.

"Zandvoort today allowed us to test the car in all conditions, going from the wet to intermediates to dry tyres in FP1. Then in FP2 we had good running on the soft and medium tyres to compare them with a view to their potential usage in the race," Stella commented.

"It’s been a very useful day, not only for race preparation but also for gathering good data and performing checks on the aerodynamic upgrades we have this weekend."

Despite the changes, the tension between McLaren and its rivals, especially Mercedes, remains tight. Norris concluded with cautious optimism:

"It’s close towards the front of the pack so we’ll be working hard overnight as a team to get everything out of our package. A little bit more to find overnight, hopefully, and we can challenge the Mercedes."

With new upgrades in play and team spirits high, the McLaren team seems poised for a robust challenge at the Zandvoort circuit, hoping to capitalize on every bit of progress they can muster.