Mercedes Struggles Continue As Lando Norris Delivers Dreadful Engine Verdict

Lando Norris explains his Mercedes engine was "finished" after just one race.

McLaren driver Lando Norris has revealed that his team's decision to change his Mercedes Power Unit ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was no mere precaution. In fact, the engine was already "finished" and needed to be replaced in full, indicating more difficulties for the Brackley-based squad.

Norris explained:

“I took a whole new engine because the other one is finished already."

To ensure peak performance, Norris had a number of new components fitted to his Power Unit prior to the race weekend in Jeddah. These included a fresh internal combustion engine, turbocharger, and MGU-H and MGU-K.

Fortunately for Norris, these changes were all within the penalty-free quota, meaning he avoided any grid penalties for the event in Saudi Arabia. However, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was not so lucky, having a third Control Electronics component installed and receiving a ten-place grid penalty as a result.

Norris acknowledged that this new engine cannot be used again in the future, so it is likely that he will incur a penalty on his side of the garage at some point during the 2023 season.

EPIC effort by @OscarPiastri, who reaches Q3 for the first time and will start in the top 10 for tomorrow's #SaudiArabianGP! 🙌🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/YAnG9xbP6z

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 18, 2023

McLaren will be hoping for a stronger showing than their previous race in Bahrain, where a pneumatic leak caused Norris to pit six times and Piastri was forced to retire early due to an issue. However, Norris has a battle on his hands starting in 19th place on the grid with his teammate Oscar Piastri in 9th.

Norris also noted that the midfield pack is incredibly tight, with just tenths of a second separating him from the bottom of the timesheet. "It's close," he said. "I think me to last place was split between two-tenths, so if I made a little mistake I was in last place."

Despite the challenges, Norris remained optimistic, saying: 

"It feels alright, to be honest, the car. I'm struggling a bit with overall balance but we're just doing the best with what we've got."