Lando Norris was encouraged by his car’s pace as rival George Russell said McLaren are the favourites this weekend.
The Miami Grand Prix winner was only 12th quickest at the end of practice but was on course to set the fastest time until he made a mistake during his qualifying simulation.Norris said he isn’t sure how competitive McLaren are yet. “I kind of have to look at the data and compare ourselves to others, compare ourselves to Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes who seem also pretty quick, just try to understand a little bit where we stand relative to them.
“But it’s just probably little bits here and there. I think we seem relatively quick.
“I didn’t get my lap in at the end, but I think we’re in a good position. I don’t think we need to change too much, it’s just small little tweaks and putting it all together.”
Following a “messy” start to practice Norris said he was happier with his car’s performance later in the day.
“We had the rakes on the car so we were doing some aero testing. Then we had a couple of issues with the car after that. So not the most clean, straightforward day.
“But I think we made a really good step from [first practice] into [second practice] and once I got comfortable, I felt pretty good out there. So I think we’re in a good position.
“Tricky, as it was quite gusty and obviously it calmed down a little bit. But on the whole a positive day and a good start to the weekend.”
But following Norris’ victory in Miami two weeks ago Russell believes McLaren are now the team to beat.
“We looked reasonably competitive, slightly closer than we showed in Miami,” said the Mercedes driver. “I’m sure everybody will find out come qualifying where we where we truly stand.
“I think McLaren are still probably looking the favourites at the moment and probably the quickest again, they’ve been so fast since China.”
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Nick T.
18th May 2024, 2:37
McLaren and Piastri were the fastest car in the long run simulations by a nice margin too. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. Being the fastest car on the long runs is nice and all, but it’s impossible to pass at Imola, unless it’s in the pits. So, they’ll have to now screw up their quali runs either w/Norris’ McLaren looking the fastest until he aborted lap.