Lando Norris isn’t concerned his car’s weakness in low speed corners might hurt his chances at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver has taken a win and two second places from the last three grands prix. However the Monaco circuit is the slowest on the F1 calendar, and Norris admitted his MCL38 has been weaker on tight corners.“My worst corner [at Imola] was turn 14, 15 [Variante Alta], the slowest part of the circuit,” said Norris. “That’s where I was losing most of my time. So we still have that as a weakness and we know that, we’re working on it.
“It doesn’t make me too concerned for Monaco because it’s a track where you want a good car, but you also just need to commit to everything. It’s such a fast circuit.
“It’s not like you just turn the wheel slowly, you have to commit. You have to judge how close you’re going to get to the apexes and that kind of thing. So there’s a big element of risk.
“When that comes into play, it kind of spreads out things a little bit too. So I’m not concerned. I’m excited to go to Monaco. I’m sure everyone is, because it’s so cool. At least excited for Saturday, I can’t wait.”
McLaren made significant progress with an update they introduced in Miami, and brought more new parts at Imola. Norris says they will “have a couple changes for Monaco, like I’m sure everyone does.”
“You set up the car completely differently to what you would [at Imola],” he continued. “I don’t think it correlates exactly the same.
“When we can just set the car up for slow speed, we’re better. But when you have to set it up for high-speed, medium-speed, and slow-speed, that’s when we make the most of our strengths, which is high and medium, and we take the hit in slow-speed.
“But we have some little things, and even the upgrade we had last weekend helped us a little bit move in the right direction.”
He expects to be in close competition with the same two teams again this weekend. “We’re on the right track. We’re fighting against Ferraris and Red Bulls and that’s the expectation now.”
“I think we want to do the same again, but it’s such a different track,” he added. “We need to say how we are on Friday.”
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Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
23rd May 2024, 8:48
One thing you need to be in Monaco is confidence. Lando has it at the moment.
David (@davidjwest)
23rd May 2024, 9:37
Can’t see anything other than a Max pole at Monaco which means almost certainly another Max win, with a big queue behind him at the finish.
RB is good on the soft tyres, not so good on the hards.
Only Facts!
23rd May 2024, 10:26
Monaco pole position is always wide open. Brush the wall and you’re done, two drops of rain and the grid is reversed.
I’d say Leclerc has his best chance this year, but the new “gentle with the tyres” Ferrari chassis may hurt the one-lap pace.
Mercedes can finally put their “we have lots of down force but no terminal speed” theory to the test. In this case I’d bet on #44.
RedBull’s impressive traction will have their play too… Watch some of the Imola onboards and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Russell even made a remark on the radio about it.
Any votes for Tsunoda? The Hulk? Yes, it’s Monaco after all.
An Sionnach
23rd May 2024, 14:51
Leclerc sounds like a good bet. Problem is that himself, Lando and all other comers with the potential may have an off day… and Max will most likely be in contention no matter what. My feeling is that Max will not get it this time, but that’s giving him about a 50% chance against the rest of the world!
I’ll check out the onboards of the Red Bulls at Imola. Thanks for the tip.
Nick T.
23rd May 2024, 18:28
The media makes way too much out of McLaren’s low-speed “weakness.” Zandervoot was supposed to be one of Williams’ worse weekends last year and it turned out one of its best.