Formula 1 champion Lando Norris reveals: What’s causing McLaren a headache

Friday’s practice session at the Circuit of the Americas got off to a promising start for Lando Norris with a strong FP1 lap time: the McLaren star completed a lap of the Texan circuit in 1:36.297 minutes, making him the third-fastest driver. However, the gap to the fastest time set by Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc was almost two-tenths of a second – not exactly a narrow margin.

What was even worse was that in the second session, the gap to the top widened significantly: Norris was actually slower than in the first practice session with a time of 1:36.373, whilst the competition managed to improve. In the end, he had to settle for the seventh-fastest time. The fact that his team-mate Oscar Piastri struggled even more in both practice sessions was no consolation for the ambitious defending champion.

McLaren: A perfect performance is needed

“It was just difficult,” sighed Norris after the session when asked how his Papaya-liveried car felt with the latest upgrade. “I don’t think the pace was all that bad, but we’re a step behind Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, and we’re probably behind Mercedes too, so comparatively we’ve fallen behind,” he added.

And the 13-time Grand Prix winner added: “The car is just difficult to drive, and that’s been the case for quite some time now. It’s just too tricky to put in consistently good laps. Because we have to be perfect to get the speed out of it. And unfortunately, that’s not possible all the time; ultimately, we’re simply not fast enough.”

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