New McLaren hasn’t improved as much as Norris hoped

Lando Norris says the new McLaren is not as big an improvement as he wanted it to be in some areas.

After finishing his last day of testing in the car before the season begins, Norris said he was happy with the team’s progress but felt the car was more sensitive to today’s windy conditions than some of his rivals’ machines.

“I’m very happy with things and the progress we’ve made since last week,” said Norris. “But because of other things like the wind, let’s say, it’s been very hard to get a good feeling of what the car’s like.

“But at the same time, if this is a race weekend and it’s this windy, then it’s just something you’ve got to deal with. And I think that’s one of the areas we have to work on as a team. Because from what I see, it’s hard to know, the other teams have strengths or less weaknesses in those areas.”

Norris said the team has made improvements with its car but doesn’t believe it’s a match for the pace-setting Mercedes in any aspect.

“I’m happy with areas and how it’s improved compared to last year in some areas,” he said. “In some areas it’s not moved on as much as what I would have liked.

[smr2020test]”Areas it’s not good at, comparing to Mercedes who are fastest, probably everything. I don’t think there’s any area where we’re as competitive as Mercedes. So if I want to be that harsh I can say it’s not good enough in any area. But in terms of progress made, which is not easy to do in Formula 1, I’m happy.

“Of course I’m not going to say [which] areas. More in terms of consistency of car from one to another, when the wind’s not terrible. Being able to push on the car in the long runs, the car’s just been nicer to drive. It’s less on edge, less peaky, let’s say.

“It’s a bit more stable and consistent through all the laps you do so you’re still pushing and the limit still moves up and you’re driving on that limit so the car’s still going to be sliding and moving around and so on. But the the main thing is an easy way to say it’s just more consistent and nicer to drive.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 F1 season

• Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
• Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
• F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
• Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
• F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers

Browse all 2020 F1 season articles