McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has said it is up to both the team and Lando Norris to uncover why the Briton is struggling at race starts after another lacklustre opening at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Lights out and 20 Formula 1 cars roar down to the first corner jostling for supremacy, that’s the target, but McLaren’s star man Norris has been struggling amid the most tense moment a Grand Prix can offer up.
From pole at Barcelona he had George Russell sweep around the outside of him into Turn 1 and found himself stuck in third for the opening stint, costing him a chance at victory.
In Hungary, Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri beat him to Turn 1 from second on the grid, a move that decided the winner and a Spa last weekend, Norris misjudged things in a big way.
Starting from fourth, Norris found himself on the outside of the La Source hairpin and took an unnecessary move to the outside even further, running the kerb and getting bogged down in the gravel, dropping him to seventh.
That move proved costly and paved the way for Max Verstappen to finish ahead of his McLaren title rival and widen the championship gap by a further two points with Norris now 78 behind.
“Well, first of all, these kinds of situations, they’re always very, very marginal,” Stella said when reviewing Norris’ Lap 1, Turn 1 error.
“I think Lando got a little distracted from what was happening on the inside and ran out of track. It’s marginal things, it just requires little adjustments here and there.
“Certainly, we work with Lando like we work with Oscar to try and see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better to either be more prepared or to use better of our abilities and talents.
“So, I think it doesn’t necessarily change our attitude, but definitely gives us some elements to analyse as to how some of these missed opportunities manifest themselves.”
Stella acknowledged that “For Lando, for instance, it looks like there’s statistically some opportunities that tend to happen in the early stages of the race.”
The McLaren Team Principal went onto state that now it is up to the Woking-based outfit and Norris to understand whether there is indeed a trend occurring with poor race starts, or whether it is a matter of unfortunate coincidence.
“We need to check whether this is early stages of the race for a reason or it’s just random,” he said.
“But like any other athlete or any other driver, I think Lando himself, with the support of the team, will have to think, what can I do better to make sure we capitalise on the good work we are doing?
“I think he was in a good starting position still, but then once we lost the position at the start with this low deck and difficult overtaking, we definitely made our life difficult.”
Norris and McLaren now have the summer break to “reset,” which the Miami GP winner admitted he needed after he let more crucial championship points slip away.
“We all need it, but I think I just need it to reset,” Norris said.
“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three or four races, just because of stupid stuff. Mistakes and bad starts. Turn 1 now.
“I’ve given up a lot of points, so hopefully I can come back stronger.”
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