McLaren boss Andrea Stella explained that the team’s compromising Formula 1 challenger, the MCL39, is “more of a penalty” to Lando Norris than Oscar Piastri.
The Chinese Grand Prix exposed the class-leading McLaren car, which can be devastatingly quick but ready to punish its drivers for any mistakes.
Norris was the driver in the McLaren on the back foot in Shanghai, sixth in Sprint Qualifying, eighth in the Sprint, third in GP qualifying before recovering his weekend to a fine second in the main event.
Piastri, meanwhile, was able to rise above the McLaren quirks to put in a third, second, first, first scorecard in China.
Norris locked up going into the Turn 14 hairpin during crucial moments in qualifying and was also down through the Turn 1 & 2 complex, exposing his limitations with understeer.
“There are a couple of things, one mainly related to the behaviour of the tyres on this surface, and the other one, I think, is more related to the behaviour of the car, that make exploiting the car at the limit a bit difficult,” Stella explained.
“This is the same for both drivers, but I think it’s more of a penalty for Lando, given his driving style and the way he wants to generate lap time.
“On both things, the one related to the tyres and the one related to the car, there’s not much we can do, we just have to adapt.”
Whereas things improved in the GP, with Norris claiming he’d found “answers for his struggles” after finishing second, the Sprint was a different story.
A poor start from sixth dropped him three places and Stella noted how dirty air compromised Norris’ muted recovery to eighth.
“We definitely have some improvements to do in the long runs, because with Lando we had quite a lot of graining and he couldn’t make much progress during the sprint, while Oscar coped with the tyres a bit more comfortably,” he said.
“But it’s also true that he had less dirty air.”
Norris struggled in one-lap Shanghai pursuits
Norris spoke readily throughout the weekend that he was having difficulties with the MCL39, claiming post-race, “I just can’t drive a car with no front.
“I can, but I struggle, and it’s just been too understeery, simply, the car, the last few days – I cannot maximise the package that way.”
When push came to shove in qualifying, Norris also admitted that he was unsure of how best to exploit his car.
“[It’s] a couple of things and just more my driving also, just that rhythm of knowing exactly what to do, where, how much, also when you have the tyres and if you push a bit too much on the tyres, it can bite quite quickly too,” he said.
Stella agreed with this notion, believing that a pegged back Norris would fare better over the course of a single lap.
“Somehow, when he tried to find the last one or two-tenths that you normally would find when you put a couple of new sets, then I think he hits this sort of behaviour that I refer to without being specific,” the McLaren Team Principal said.
“And this means that actually for him, it works better when he’s at 99% of his potential.
“When he tries to extract the 100, actually things trip over a little bit.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris: Chinese GP provided ‘answers for my struggles’ with McLaren F1 car
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