McLaren boss Andrea Stella has said that Lando Norris’ critics have been silenced since the improvement the Brit has shown for the Formula 1 team since using a new front suspension.
Norris went through a barren run after taking victory in the opening race in Australia, which saw him lose momentum in the championship race to team-mate Oscar Piastri.
But Norris, who was able to adopt the new suspension, which boasts thicker cross-sections to enable him to find a better feel of the car in cornering, has refound his form.
A win in Austria saw him close the gap to 15 points, and with Piastri just ahead on the grid for the British Grand Prix, anything is possible for Norris.
“The most important news for us is that we seem to have found just a better, let me say, feeling for Lando of what’s happening with the front axle,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“So I think some of the points and the comments that were made at the start of the season, they seem to have gone now.
“And we can see Lando just more comfortable. And this is really good news.”
Difference in front suspension choices ‘not a complication’ in McLaren data analysis
Piastri, on the other hand, has decided to stick with his original layout, theorising that as he did not encounter the same problems as Norris, there is no need to change it.
When asked if this causes an issue with any analysis of both cars, Stella said that it was no problem for the engineers to decipher.
“The different front suspension setup does not complicate the way we look at the data,” he said, “the way we compare how well the two cars are doing from a car performance point of view or a driving performance point of view. That’s not a problem itself.
“If anything, it’s more a problem from parts point of view, because we need to have various specifications that we carry with us.
“We are actually discussing whether some of the options adopted by Lando might be interesting for Oscar in the future. This will be evaluated.”
Stella agreed that Piastri has no need to alter anything, confirming the likelihood that the two men will be continuing with their differed suspension designs between now at the end of the campaign.
“I think for Oscar, he has always been in a good space in terms of relationship with the car.
“So there’s a chance that these differences will persist for the remainder of the season.”
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