Lando Norris/McLaren 3rd: “We’re having more difficulties than we’d like”

After the first day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, the three fastest car manufacturers are within two-tenths of a second of each other – Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull Racing car, and Lando Norris in the McLaren. Mercedes are not yet up there competing at the front.

Lando Norris sums up his Friday as follows: “An interesting first day here at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. It’s great to be doing our first laps on this track; it’s a fun circuit and an interesting challenge in terms of layout and track surface.”

“We’re struggling more than we’d like, but we made some progress in FP2. We’ve still got a few things to sort out if we want to be competitive, but we’ll look at the data this evening and see what we can do for the third free practice session and qualifying on 3 October.”

Race Director Randy Singh adds: “We found the track conditions quite surprising today. The surface is much rougher and offers more grip than our initial forecasts suggested. This posed a challenge in the first practice session, where we struggled to get the car into the optimal window.”

“However, the team has done a fantastic job, both here at the circuit and back at the factory, analysing the data and setting up the car much better for the second session. The drivers felt much more comfortable in the second practice session and took a solid step forward.”

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“Tyre wear was the main talking point, and it remained consistently high throughout the day, which will definitely be a key factor in the race. This hot, abrasive surface is really tough on the tyres. From a strategic point of view, the high wear naturally points towards a two-stop race.”