Lando Norris has warned McLaren’s rivals there will be tracks that are more suited to the team’s 2025 Formula 1 car amid its strong start at the Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren delivered on the promise it had shown in pre-season last weekend as Norris overcame changeable conditions to win the season-opening race at Albert Park.
The paddock consensus that McLaren’s MCL39 car is a class apart was realised as Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri pulled ahead at a rapid rate as the track dried.
Norris had opened up a substantial 18-second lead over Verstappen’s Red Bull inside 26 racing laps when Fernando Alonso’s crash on Lap 34 triggered the Safety Car.
That has enhanced concern that the Woking-based squad, which also took a front-row lockout with three-tenths in hand on the Red Bull, could be primed to dominate.
But while he predicted there will be venues that expose McLaren’s limitations, Norris is adamant there will also be circuits where the MCL39 is even more competitive.
Asked whether he thinks there will be circuits McLaren will struggle at, Norris told media including Motorsport Week: “I do, but I think we’ll have both.
“I think we’ll have tracks where we will be even better, and I think we’ll have a couple where we’ll struggle.
“We were good last year, especially in the second half of the season, but Vegas was woeful. In fact, we were shocking.
“There are other tracks along those lines where we did struggle quite a bit.
“We’ve definitely made our car much more balanced across all types of circuits – high speed, low speed, high downforce, low downforce. We’re competitive at most.
“But these low grip tracks like Vegas, we really struggled. It highlighted our issues with the front of the car – the graining, the lack of rotation.
“We know that, though. We know where we’re going to struggle.”
Where could McLaren come undone?
Norris pinpointed Bahrain as one track where the opposition could edge McLaren, despite the side’s standout pace at the venue during pre-season testing last month.
“Even in Bahrain a couple of weeks ago, we came out confident, but everyone was hyping us up a lot,” he highlighted.
“Mainly just because our high-fuel pace was very strong. But on low fuel, we were struggling. We were not as quick as some of the others.
“Even if we took all our fuel out and max the engine mode, I don’t think we would have been quicker.
“We know we have work to do. If we raced in Bahrain again, I wouldn’t be confident we could win the race.
Norris expects strong McLaren in China
Norris harbours optimism that McLaren will go well again in China this weekend, though, having split the dominant Red Bull cars in 2024 with his launch-spec MCL38.
“I’m confident that when we go to China next weekend, we can be very strong, because we were strong there last year with not a very good car,” he assessed.
“So, a mixture. But I hope not. Vegas was our worst last season, so I’m hoping we’ll improve by then.”
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