Despite ending the first and second practice sessions in P8 and P12 respectively, McLaren driver, Lando Norris, described the opening day of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as being “reasonable”.
The McLaren driver was asked about his and the team’s performance over the sessions and stated that despite experiencing several issues in FP1, and an aborted soft tyre run in FP2, he felt as if the team had had “a good start to the weekend”.
The Miami Grand Prix winner did, however, acknowledge that the first practice session had been “messy” due to the team’s aerodynamic testing of the car, and the issues experienced by Norris on track.
He added that, though FP2 has been “tricky”, he felt that the team had improved in the second practice session. The 24-year-old had looked set to go fastest of everyone on the red walled tyre until he got a little bit wide in turn 18 and put his right hand side wheels in the gravel.
“I think on the whole a pretty reasonable day. A little bit of a messy FP1, we had the rakes on the car as we were doing some aero testing, then we had a couple of issues with the car after that, so not the most clean and straightforward day.
“But I think we made a really good step from FP1 into FP2. Once I got comfortable, I felt really good out there. I think we are in a good position… [it was] tricky, [as] it was quite gusty, and then it calmed down a little bit, but on the whole a good start to the weekend.”
Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri also assessed the day as being positive for the team, describing it as being “encouraging” and stating that the car had had good pace.
Piastri, who finished FP2 in second place, 0.192 seconds behind session leader, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, added that he was happy about his performance and stated that he had felt comfortable with the car throughout the session.
He did, however, indicate that the team would be assessing what could be done to improve their performance ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.
“I think honestly it’s been an encouraging day for us. The pace has been good, both in the qualifying runs and the race run, so I’m feeling pretty happy.
“I felt pretty comfy with the car from the moment we got on track so yeah, [we’ll] try and find a bit more overnight and see what we can do tomorrow.”
The McLaren drivers were also asked about their predicted performance in the upcoming qualifying session. Piastri indicated that it was difficult for him to say, expressing that both Ferrari and Mercedes had seemed “quick” and noting the unusual “up and down” performance of Red Bull.
He added that a good qualifying performance for the team was not unrealistic but indicated that further work would be needed.
“Hard to know; it is very tight out there. Red Bull have looked a bit up and down, which is a bit unusual for them.
“Ferrari have looked quick, Mercedes looked quick as well at points, but I think we are definitely in the fight. We’ll try to find a bit more tomorrow, but where we were today is not unrealistic.”
Norris stated that McLaren needed to compare their performance to that of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes to identify their performance relative to those teams.
He reiterated that despite his aborted soft tyre run, he believed that the team was in a good position, and added that not much needed to be changed.
“[We need to] compare ourselves to Red Bull, to Ferrari, to Mercedes, who seem also pretty quick. [We’ll] just try and understand a little bit where we stand relative to them.
“We are putting little bits here and there, I think we seem relatively quick. I didn’t get my lap in at the end, but we are in a good position. I don’t think we need to change very much, just small little tweaks and bringing it all together, simple as that.”
