McLaren has disclosed that a “pretty badly damaged” floor threatened Lando Norris’ eventual race win during the closing stages of Formula 1‘s Australian Grand Prix.
Norris began his ambition to win a maiden Drivers’ title in 2025 on the right note as he converted pole position in the season-opening round at the Albert Park Circuit.
However, the Briton had to repel a late charge from Max Verstappen to prevail as the Red Bull driver pressurised his McLaren rival on a damp track in the closing laps.
McLaren had been on course to take a prized 1-2 until increased rainfall caused both drivers to run wide, culminating in Oscar Piastri spinning at the penultimate turn.
Verstappen capitalised on the challenging conditions to move to within DRS range on Norris, but he couldn’t get close enough to attempt an overtake on the McLaren.
But McLaren boss Andrea Stella has now revealed that the pace shown at the end wasn’t representative as Norris was made to nurse a wounded MCL39 to the finish.
“So one issue we had in the final laps of the race with Lando is that he had the floor pretty badly damaged,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“So he had lost, I haven’t heard the numbers yet, but he lost aerodynamic performance and this meant that he couldn’t utilise the full pace of the car.
“So I think the situation got more tense than would have normally been the case because of this damage on Lando’s car.
“I think how strong the car was, we could see actually with Oscar that in the space of a few laps [after his spin] he recovered three or four positions.
“So I think in normal circumstances it shouldn’t have been that difficult for Lando [to hold onto the win].”
McLaren unsure when Norris incurred damage
Stella addressed that McLaren would have to resort to the data to determine whether the damage had been incurred when Norris ventured wide at Turn 12 on Lap 44.
“We are not sure if it was that off on the gravel when the rain came, or if it’s an off that he had after the restart,” he admitted. “We’re not sure.
“We will be able to assess that through the data by looking at where we see the step down of aerodynamic performance.”
McLaren not discounting Red Bull/Verstappen threat
Verstappen, who had overtaken Piastri at Turn 2 on the opening lap, had threatened to mount an attack on the sister McLaren during the initial stint on Intermediates.
But Verstappen struggling to maintain pace with Norris triggered a mistake at Turn 11 on Lap 15 which allowed Piastri through and saw his times drop at a rapid rate.
Stella expressed that Verstappen’s sporadic challenge came as no surprise, with McLaren remaining attentive to the threat Red Bull might pose in the coming rounds.
“With the pace of Verstappen and Red Bull, there’s never a surprise,” the Italian commented.
“It’s Verstappen and Red Bull, so they know how to make quick cars, they know how to race fast, and they know how to race well in this kind of tricky and unchangeable conditions.
“So it’s not a surprise that Verstappen was so close to us and he was in contention for the victory until the last metre of the race.
“I think probably in the early stages of the race, in order to try and stay with Lando, he might have used his tyres a little too hard
and that’s why he then lost some of the pace and during the first stint, we could open a gap that was equivalent to a pit stop at some stage.
“So I think at that time, he might have tried to get a bit too much from the tyres, but I think every driver that races for victories tries and gives it a go and sees what happens with the tyres.
“So overall, not a surprise, but like I said before, we will have to see a few more races to actually see what is the real competitiveness situation.”
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