Lando Norris endured a challenging second practice at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, after a gearbox issue kept him in the pits for the entirety of the session.
McLaren and Norris endured a challenging first practice session at the Madring, the MCL40 looking like it lacked pace around F1’s newest circuit.
Norris showed reasonable pace in FP1, setting the sixth-fastest time of 1:34.947s, 0.870s off the lead car’s pace, across 27 laps on a mix of medium and soft tyres.
But FP2 was a very different story: with only two laps completed, no set time, and 22nd on the timesheet, he used only a single set of mediums before the issue ended his run.
“A tricky day; it was good to get the laps in this morning, where we identified a few changes we needed to make to the car, but ultimately we didn’t get the chance to make any progress in FP2 due to a gearbox issue,” Norris said.
He further added: “Whenever you come to a new circuit, track time is very important, so we’re clearly on the back foot having missed FP2.”
“We’ll work hard overnight looking at the data from FP1, from Oscar’s car and the teams around us, and make sure we get as much learning as we can in FP3. Otherwise, it was good to get the first laps done here in Madrid; it’s an interesting circuit, and I’m looking forward to getting some more laps in ahead of Qualifying tomorrow.”
McLaren’s Technical Director for Performance, Mark Temple, admitted to the scale of the setback, especially given the demands of a brand-new track.
McLaren explain impact of setback for Lando Norris
“Today presented a significant challenge, particularly with the gearbox issue that cost Lando a substantial amount of track time in FP2. It’s a big setback on a new and technically demanding circuit like this, where every lap is crucial for gathering data. The conditions are tough for everyone, with high temperatures and low grip, so losing that running time certainly puts us on the back foot heading into Saturday.
Temple said the team’s overnight focus would be to make the most of the data it has, drawing on Oscar Piastri’s running alongside Norris’s FP1 laps to close the gap before qualifying.
“Our focus tonight is on a deep dive into the data to see where we can unlock more performance. The car isn’t quite where we want it to be, but we have some clear ideas on both the chassis and driver side to explore. We’ll be working hard to analyse a wider variety of potential changes than usual to ensure we can give both drivers a more competitive package for Qualifying. Maximising Lando’s track time in FP3 will be our absolute priority to help him recover.”
With FP3 now carrying extra weight for Norris, and a potential full gearbox replacement, McLaren’s ability to turn an incomplete data set into a competitive qualifying set-up will be one of the more interesting subplots of Saturday’s running.
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