Lando Norris has admitted that McLaren is struggling more than expected at Sepang despite being viewed as one of the leading contenders for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. A difficult start to Friday left the British driver searching for a better feeling with the car, although FP2 provided more encouraging signs.
McLaren was able to make progress during the second practice session, giving the team a stronger foundation for the rest of the weekend. However, the work completed on Friday also highlighted areas that still need to be improved before qualifying.
Lando Norris struggles to find confidence at Sepang
Friday proved more complicated than anticipated for Lando Norris. The McLaren driver found it difficult to establish an immediate connection with the car during the opening practice running at Sepang.
“We’re struggling more than expected,” Lando Norris admitted.
The main focus throughout Friday was therefore on identifying the areas where McLaren could intervene to improve the behaviour of the car and give its driver greater confidence.
McLaren makes progress during FP2
The picture became more encouraging during the second session, when McLaren began to find improvements in the car.
“We made progress in FP2,” Lando Norris said.
That step forward did not erase the problems encountered earlier in the day, but it gave McLaren a more solid platform from which to continue working ahead of qualifying.
McLaren still has work to do before qualifying
The remaining question is how much more performance McLaren can recover relative to its rivals over the rest of the weekend.
The priority will be to convert Friday’s improvements into outright performance while finding a setup that works effectively both over a single qualifying lap and in race configuration.
McLaren therefore leaves Friday with a more positive direction than it had at the beginning of the day, but Lando Norris’s assessment makes clear that there is still work to complete before the team can judge its true level of competitiveness at Sepang.
