Lando Norris has divulged his McLaren Formula 1 car will use repaired floors from earlier this season to cover the damage sustained in his Austrian Grand Prix clash.
Norris collided with Max Verstappen at Turn 3 over the race lead with seven laps remaining at the Red Bull Ring in an incident which ruined his win hopes and his car.
The touch between the McLaren and the Red Bull was minuscule, but the resulting puncture saw him shed carbon fibre on his return to the pits to retire from the race.
Norris, who has since backtracked over his desire to see Verstappen apologise, revealed post-race that the clash could even have ramifications going into Silverstone.
“I’m disappointed it ruined the race, destroyed the car,” Norris expressed.
“In terms of upgrades and budget caps and that, so the car is destroyed and these are bits we need for next week.
“It’s not just a repercussion of things that happen on track it’s now what we carry into Silverstone and be disadvantaged by, yeah, just expected a bit more from him.”
However, the Briton has disclosed McLaren reverted to patching up floors that were damaged earlier in the season to ensure his MCL38 remains on the latest spec.
Asked to provide an update on the damage, Norris replied: “Yes, everything’s okay. It’s more just like longer-term stuff it’s impacted more than just this weekend.
“We have some spare floors that were already damaged before, which we’ve been able to repair and kind of get things ready for.
“The team have done an amazing job to get things ready. We knew with three races in a row, easily things can go wrong and you can easily have a lot of damage.
“It’s not hard to damage a floor in the first place. You can run over an exit kerb and it can be damaged quite easily.
“The team have done a good job to make sure we’ve had enough and we’ve got some more for this weekend and some repaired ones.
“Maybe not in a perfect place, but, like a sidepod and break ducts, all these kinds of things, they all add up.
“And when you’re in a tight fight for a championship and you’re pushing hard, you’re always trying to push the boundaries of everything, just like the racing is.
“With the budget cap and upgrades and CFD, all those types of things, you just want every bit of money possible.
“So, yeah, a bit of a shame, but the team have done a good job to make sure everything’s ready for this weekend.”
The race at Silverstone last term marked McLaren’s return to being a consistent podium-scoring outfit as Norris came home in second behind Verstappen’s Red Bull.
But with the Woking-based squad having prevailed in Miami and pushed Red Bull at multiple other rounds in 2024, Norris is targeting an emotional win on home soil.
“We’re in good form,” Norris previewed. “We’ve been, again, very close the last few races, but Mercedes have been getting closer and closer.
“If you look back to last weekend, Mercedes were extremely quick, if not one of the quickest cars in the race.
“They’ve taken probably a few steps forward since where they were. We’re in a good position, but so are Red Bull. So, yeah, expecting a close battle between many of us.”
Two weeks in a row that late pitting of Oscar have cost him & McLaren 2 victories.