Although McLaren’s MCL39 was a top-two car in both Friday practices for the Australian Grand Prix, Lando Norris says there are “too many inconsistencies and “too many problems” on low fuel runs.
Norris was quickest in FP1 before McLaren lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the afternoon session, just 24 hours after Norris warned there was more to come from Ferrari.
Lando Norris v Ferrari, but does Ferrari have the edge?
Norris and Oscar Piastri arrived in Melbourne as the favourites for the season-opening victory as pundits and rivals declared the MCL39 would be the car to beat.
Norris lived up to the billing in first practice when he put in a late run to beat Carlos Sainz with Charles Leclerc third. But as the track temperature climbed for FP2, it was the Ferrari driver who came out on top on the soft tyres.
Leclerc crossed the line with a 1:16.439, 0.124s quicker than Piastri, with Norris a further 0.017s.
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But despite being in the thick of the fight, or so the practice timesheets say, Norris was not at all enthusiastic about his chances for the weekend.
“So-so,” he said of his Friday at the Albert Park circuit. “It was a pretty good start to the weekend, we’ve got a good baseline.
“But certainly not happy, like not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel. On high fuel, I felt good.
“Just low fuel, still similar to Bahrain, too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”
Asked if he believes McLaren were on course for a ‘positive performance this year’, the Briton replied: “I mean, I don’t know what positive means, but I think we’ll be strong.”
But he also thinks Ferrari and Mercedes will be strong. As for Red Bull, the driver who lost the World title to Max Verstappen last year, didn’t mention Verstappen’s team.
“I think,” he continued, “like we said the whole time, we’ll be strong, Ferrari will be strong, Mercedes. I don’t know.”
Norris’ comments come just 24 hours after the Briton warned that Ferrari hadn’t shown their hand during testing.
According to just about every report, McLaren were top of the pile with Ferrari in the bunch behind with Red Bull and Mercedes. Some even said they were only fourth quickest.
Norris scoffed at this in the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix as he knew something about Ferrari’s test programme.
He stated: “I know how much fuel and stuff Ferrari had for a lot of the testing. You’d be surprised at how quick they’re going to be this weekend.”
He went on to downplay McLaren’s own performance during testing, saying: “People can talk what they want. I think for us we’ve kept to ourselves. We kept focused.
“We want to be quick, we expect to be up there fighting. But I definitely don’t think by the margin that everyone is saying.
“I feel like we’re in a similar playing field to the top of the three teams. I still think it’s us top four [from last year].
“There are many things that other people didn’t see. Other people looked extremely strong, including Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari.”
More to come in qualifying on Saturday!
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