Lando Norris arrives in Austria looking to turn the tide in qualifying, with McLaren’s latest suspension changes aiming to unlock the confidence he’s been chasing in Formula 1.
The British driver has been outqualified by his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in six of the first 10 rounds this season, with Piastri also leading the pole tally, four to two.
Canada was a clear example of Norris’ struggles, as mistakes left him seventh on the grid, while the Australian qualified third, despite the circuit not favouring the MCL39.
Norris identified earlier this season that the 2025 McLaren provides less feedback on the front axle, making it harder to predict how it will respond to his inputs – a problem known as ‘cueing.’
That has been a season-long issue, preventing him from confidently pushing to the limit in qualifying and damaging his one-lap pace, which has so far stalled his title hopes.
To get on top of the issue, the 25-year-old spent significant time in McLaren’s simulator between the Saudi Arabia and Miami rounds to better understand the root cause.
Since then, the team has introduced subtle, incremental changes leading to a revised front suspension geometry successfully trialled in Canada
Piastri has also felt the issue, but to a lesser extent, so the Montreal spec has sufficed for him, while Norris opted for the latest Austria upgrade.
Ahead of Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring, McLaren Technical Director Neil Houldey explained the steps taken to help Norris better reconnect with the MCL39.
“It’s just about for him to be able to feel the tyres on the limit a bit better,” he said.
“We’ve just made some small kinematic adjustments that we know will be better.
“I think we’ve got a good understanding of what he needs and we were able to make small improvements in a number of areas that will and have helped him over the last few races and will continue to help him moving forward.
“We weren’t expecting a big difference in performance, we were expecting it to be better and it was only just checking that Lando had no negative comments about that change.
“That meant that we’ve taken that forward.”
McLaren’s careful approach to suspension upgrades
McLaren has been cautious about revealing technical specifics, both to protect its intellectual property and because the changes involve trade-offs in other performance areas.
The reigning champions initially hesitated to introduce certain solutions, concerned that it might create new problems elsewhere on the car.
But as Houldey elucidated, McLaren gained confidence from early-season running that these trade-offs would not be as costly as first feared.
“We had some concerns in one area. They had some small negatives that we didn’t necessarily want to introduce at the start of the year,” Houldey revealed.
“Running earlier on in the season gave us confidence that actually that wasn’t going to be a problem, so we were able to introduce this change without any real concern that it would be any worse.
“With all of these things we’re trying to find the best of a number of different scenarios, and it was the same with the suspension.
“You’re just trading things to try and find the optimum performance, which for Lando we think we’ve now found.”
Further upgrades and Norris’ quest for confidence in Austria
McLaren also brought revised front suspension fairings to Austria for aerodynamic gains, compatible with both suspension specs, with both McLaren drivers expecting to run the latest version from Saturday onwards.
While improving the car’s feel remains a priority, Norris has openly admitted that his qualifying struggles aren’t solely due to the machinery.
Still, he arrived in Austria optimistic that the new suspension could provide the boost he needed to close the gap to Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship
“The suspension is more something to try and give myself a better feeling, rather than to unlock any more performance from the car,” he said on Thursday.
“But hopefully, a better feeling can, in some way, unlock performance.
“That’s certainly an area that I need to improve on, and we’re working on quite a lot to improve on, but if there is any track to give myself the best feeling, it’s probably here.
“From both a personal side and from a team side, from trying to improve the car and look at the improvements that I need, this is certainly a good opportunity.”
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