Lando Norris bemoaned McLaren’s “worst Friday” of the season after he and team-mate Oscar Piastri were off the pace in practice at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
The dominant team for much of the year, Norris was seventh fastest in the morning session before posting the second-best time in FP2 while championship leader Piastri 14th and sixth, respectively.
Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams enjoyed strong running throughout the first day in Montreal, with the field split by a small margin ahead on Saturday’s final practice and qualifying.
Norris will be hoping to see improvement having struggled so far this weekend, as he concluded: “A little bit off the pace comparing to some of the others, and maybe didn’t look it at the end, but just difficult to ever put a lap together and be consistent. I did one good lap the whole session, so, yes, we have some work to do.
“The track’s difficult, but it’s definitely been our worst Friday of the year, I would say, so far. Maybe not worst in terms of pace, but just most difficult to put together and most tricky. So, yes, we’re not miles away, just need to make it a little bit easier to drive.”
The concerns come despite McLaren being one of a minority of teams to bring upgrades to Montreal. It had initially trialled its lower-flex wing at Imola, noting little performance change before its full debut at Barcelona. Following this, the team has updated its front wing further for Canada to overall improve its operating window.
In the official FIA pre-event technical notes, McLaren says that it has brought “A revised front wing geometry aiming at improved aerodynamic performance across a wide range of attitudes, through a redesign of main elements as well as introduction of ‘mermaid tails’ to the front wing endplate”.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
After Friday’s running, however, Norris suggested McLaren could revert back and pivot away from its latest package.
“That’s still something we’re going to discuss now,” he replied, when asked if the new parts would be left on the car.
“[It feels] pretty similar, honestly, but I think it’s hard to say just from one track. I think you have to go to many more, especially here. It’s quite unique with the amount of bumps and curbs and low grip that we have.
“So, yes, a bit too early to tell, but all of the things are aimed to move the car in the right direction and give me more feeling, which is a good thing. But, yes, I would say it’s a tricky day, probably one of the trickiest we’ve had this year.
“I think we’re still in a good position. It’s just it’s close, as you know, there’s all the teams up there. Mercedes now seem very, very quick, just as they were last year here. They were quite easily the best last year, so we expect them to be fast. They proved that today, but I’m complaining that I’m not first, really, but we’re still there or thereabouts.
“It’s just trying to simplify things a little bit, trying to make the car a bit easier to drive and we’ll be there or thereabouts. At the minute, I wouldn’t say we’re quickest, but you never know.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Piastri, too, admitted it had been a tough day at the office but was not about to start panicking about performance just yet.
“It definitely ended better than it started,” he said of his own Friday running.
“But I think still some improvements to try and make. It’s been a little bit of a tricky day just trying to find the right window with the car. I think we’re getting there, but we still need to find a bit more.
“I think the new parts have done what we expected them to, but hopefully we can find a bit more. I think we’ve made a good step from FP1 to FP2 and just need to try and make the same step again. No alarm bells, just trying to get the car in a better window and get me in a better window.”
