Lando Norris bemoaned balance issues with his McLaren MCL39 after second practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Norris was third fastest in FP2 on Friday, just two hundredths of a second slower than his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri and 0.141s behind pacesetter Charles Leclerc.
Despite the relatively small margins and topping FP1, Norris was unhappy with the balance of his F1 machine on his low-fuel quali sim in FP2, an issue he noticed during pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit last month.
F1 2025 Australian Grand Prix – FP2 Results
Speaking shortly after Friday afternoon’s session in Melbourne concluded, Norris admitted it was a “struggle” extracting the ultimate pace from his McLaren car.
“I think it’s been a good start to the weekend, we’ve got a good baseline, but [I’m] certainly not happy,” he said.
“[I’m] not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel.
“I feel like high fuel I felt good, just low fuel, yeah, still similar to Bahrain, too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so it was a bit of a struggle.”
Oscar Piastri encouraged ahead of home race
Piastri was more optimistic than his McLaren counterpart after finishing second in FP2 at Albert Park.
The Australian acknowledged that McLaren still has some kinks to iron out but was encouraged by his Friday showing ahead of his home Grand Prix.
“I would say [today was] pretty encouraging,” he said.
“The pace was pretty solid. There are still a few things to try and iron out and make the car feel a bit nicer, but I think the underlying pace seems strong.
“So I’m pretty happy with the day’s work. I think it’s going to be pretty different for the next two days, so how much today means we don’t know, but it feels pretty good.”
With rain forecast for Sunday’s race, it’s a fool’s game to predict who will come out on top, but Piastri is confident McLaren will be in the mix with its rivals.
“The weather is gonna be pretty different on Sunday and it’s gonna throw some spanners in the works, but I think the underlying pace of the car seems strong,” he said.
“Ferrari looked pretty quick today and Mercedes at other points as well.
“I think things are looking good, but we don’t want to just try and aim for the podium, we want to aim for the top step.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris rubbishes ‘short-sighted’ claims of McLaren advantage over F1 rivals
Discussion about this post