To better suit the driving preferences of Lando Norris—who had repeatedly emphasized a lack of front-end confidence this season—McLaren introduced a revised, tailor-made suspension setup, focusing on mechanical changes. While this technical innovation appears to have helped Norris recover his lost feeling with the car, Oscar Piastri has chosen not to adopt the new configuration, stating he currently sees no need for it. So, what exactly are these changes—and why the difference in approach?
One recurring theme in the early part of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship has been Lando Norris’s lack of trust in the front end of the McLaren MCL39. This season’s car has felt very different to him compared to last year’s MCL38, with which he had developed an almost perfect understanding. In a title fight where every tenth of a second matters, especially now that McLaren is regularly challenging at the front, this discomfort was seen as a serious issue—not just by Norris, but by the team at Woking as well.
McLaren understood that performance is meaningless without control, and tackled the problem head-on from the very first rounds of the season. The early races showed two sides of Norris: on one hand, he remained fast and competitive in raw pace; on the other, he seemed more error-prone and hesitant, searching for the elusive “click” that would allow him to drive with confidence again.
“I just can’t connect with the car. I haven’t been able to complete a single lap this year that feels like what I had in 2024,” Norris admitted after the season opener in Bahrain. “Back then, I knew what to expect at every corner, and I felt completely in control. This year, it couldn’t feel more different.”
McLaren Pinpointed the Missing Link Between Q2 and Q3 for Norris
The team knew exactly what Norris needed to rediscover that confidence—especially in qualifying. Team Principal Andrea Stella explained that both short-term and long-term development work would continue to help Norris fully unlock the MCL39’s potential.
The British driver’s biggest struggle in 2025 has come in Q3—the final part of qualifying. Historically, this was one of Norris’s strengths; he was known for extracting several tenths between Q2 and Q3. This season, however, mistakes and a lack of precision have hampered his performance in the final shootout. In contrast, Oscar Piastri has excelled, with an average Q2–Q3 improvement of over three tenths compared to Norris’s two.
After the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Stella revealed that engineers had been working on adjustments to improve the front-end response for Norris. Since the steering system—and all connected mechanical components—is one of the key ways a driver receives direct feedback from the car, optimizing this area was crucial.
A New Suspension System Restores Front-End Confidence
A new update package was introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix, specifically aimed at improving Norris’s sensitivity and feedback from the front axle. These updates were highly tailored to the British driver’s needs, with fine adjustments made to the steering response and suspension geometry to provide a more natural feel.
Interestingly, Oscar Piastri opted not to use the new suspension configuration at all. “I haven’t tested it yet,” the Australian explained. “To me, it’s not really an upgrade—just a different option. It makes some things a bit better and others a bit worse.”
“If it were only a clear improvement, I’d have used it without hesitation. But my season has gone well so far, so I prefer to keep the car as it is and focus on making the most of the current setup and other updates.”
The changes introduced in Canada are fundamentally different from those seen at the Austrian Grand Prix. In Austria, the team updated a carbon-fiber cover that connects the suspension to the chassis—a purely aerodynamic enhancement with no impact on the mechanical feel of the car. That update was performance-oriented and adopted by both drivers. By contrast, the suspension revision from Montreal is mechanical in nature and intended to improve driver confidence—particularly for Norris.
Why Oscar Piastri Doesn’t Feel the Need for the Change
The new suspension is not a performance upgrade per se, but rather a setup variation. Since Piastri hasn’t reported any discomfort with the front end, there has been no pressure to adopt the change.
From a technical standpoint, the visible difference lies only in the upper wishbone fairing. The real innovation is internal: the new suspension allows different mechanical tuning by altering how the wishbone interacts with other components. This directly affects how steering inputs are translated into motion—resulting in a more intuitive feel, especially in cornering phases, which was exactly what Norris had been missing.
According to Andrea Stella, while the changes don’t complicate data analysis or car comparison between the two drivers, they do present some logistical challenges. “It’s more of a component management issue, because we have to carry multiple specifications,” Stella explained.
“We are currently evaluating whether some of the elements introduced for Lando might also benefit Oscar in the future,” he added. “But what matters most is that we’ve likely succeeded in giving Lando back the front-end feeling he was lacking.”
Some of the critical issues from earlier in the season seem to be resolved, and Norris now appears more confident behind the wheel. For McLaren, this is a promising sign. Meanwhile, Piastri remains in harmony with the original configuration of the car, and it’s entirely possible that the two drivers will continue using different suspension setups through to the end of the season.
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