World Champion Lando Norris is at a loss: McLaren suffers a baffling loss of speed

Before the Formula 1 summer break, McLaren ace Lando Norris finally returned to his best form: victory from pole position in Hungary. When the premier class picked up momentum again after the break, the 26-year-old Englishman carried on in exactly the same vein: victory from pole position at Zandvoort.

After a slight dip in form at Monza (eighth on the grid, fourth in the race), Norris once again secured pole position for his McLaren on the new Madrid circuit and finished third.

After that, however, things didn’t quite click: two fifth places on the grid in Azerbaijan and Malaysia, a retirement through no fault of his own in Baku, but having barely made an impression beforehand, finishing only ninth at the Bahrain Grand Prix on the Sepang International Circuit. What’s going on with Lando Norris?

The 13-time Grand Prix winner complained in both Baku and Sepang that his car wasn’t as fast on the straights as Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has admitted: “It’s true – the problem we’re seeing with Lando’s car is a lack of speed on the straights. We’ve realised that the car accelerates slightly more slowly in the power-limited section and reaches a slightly lower top speed. All other parameters are the same.”

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The Italian continued: “We’re talking about a difference of one to two km/h here – small amounts. But we can quantify a loss in lap time, which I would put at more than one-tenth of a second, possibly between one and two-tenths of a second. We now need to find out why this is the case, and whilst a lack of power would be the simplest explanation, there may in fact be various reasons for it. We’re working on it and hope that this won’t happen again in Singapore.”

The Englishman in the paddock at the Marina Bay Circuit: “After the Bahrain Grand Prix, I said – analyse, learn, improve. And there was a lot to get to grips with after the Sepang race weekend; from myself, but also from the team.”

“We were competitive in Hungary, in the Netherlands and in Spain. But then we lost that edge a little. I don’t want to go into details here. The weakness on the straights is obvious.”

Are we talking about track-specific problems here? Lando elaborates: “Baku and Sepang were both not good, and they’re quite different in terms of layout. We believe the track surface plays a part, but that’s certainly not the whole story. We’re simply not performing as well as we did before, and we need to work out how to get more out of this car again. The potential is definitely there.”

“I hope things go better here in Singapore. Top speed isn’t as important here as it was in Baku and Sepang. And the Marina Bay Circuit is a track that suits me. After two frustrating weekends, I want to bounce back here.”