McLaren Scrutinizes Lando Norris's Recurring Race Problems - 'Missed Opportunities'

Saajan Jogia | Aug 5, 2024

Jun 9, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; McLaren driver Lando Norris (GBR) races during the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports / David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

The McLaren F1 team has taken note of Lando Norris' persistent race start issues, which frequently cause him to lose several positions after the race begins. Team principal Andrea Stella has acknowledged this challenge and committed to working closely with Norris to identify and address the "missed opportunities" that result from these problematic starts.

Courtesy of McLaren's MCL38 F1 car which has proven to be the fastest in several recent Grands Prix, Norris has been able to challenge Red Bull at the front this season on many occasions. However, a persistent problem has emerged: the British driver frequently loses positions immediately after the race starts, leading him to work hard on recovering the lost positions.

The most obvious incident that highlights the problem was from the Chinese Grand Prix, where Norris started in pole position but fell massively to the seventh spot on the opening lap. A similar trend was also witnessed at the most recent Belgian Grand Prix, where the 24-year-old driver started fourth but fell to seventh at Turn 1 by going wide slightly.

Despite winning his first Formula 1 race in Miami this season, Norris has yet to convert an F1 pole position into a race win. While Stella labeled the issue as a 'marginal' one, he emphasized that the team would work with Norris to improvise his race starts. Speaking to the media about the Belgian GP start problem, he said:

“These kinds of situations, they’re always very marginal.

“I think Lando got a little distracted from what was happening on the inside and ran out of track.

“It’s marginal things like this, I think, require little adjustments here and there.

“Certainly, we work with Lando, like we work with Oscar [Piastri], to try and see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better, to either be more prepared or to use better our abilities and talents.

“I think it doesn’t necessarily change our attitude, but definitely gives us some elements to analyse as to how some of these missed opportunities manifest themselves."

He added:

“Like for Lando, for instance, he looks like there are statistically some opportunities that tend to happen in the early stages of the race, so we need to check whether this is for a reason, or it’s just random.

“But like any other athlete or any other driver, I think Lando himself will talk to the team, we like to think ‘What can I do better?’ To make sure we capitalise on the good work we are doing.

“I think he was in a good starting position still, but then once we lost the position at the start with this low deg and difficult overtaking, we definitely made our life difficult.”

With the summer break ongoing, McLaren has narrowed the gap to championship leader Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, now down to a mere 42 points.