It was a strong first day back in office for McLaren F1 ahead of the Australian GP. However, drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both are wary of their colleagues, denying to be the favorites to get on the podium on Sunday.
Norris is not satisfied
Norris comfortably led the first session ahead of Williams’ Sainz, finishing P3 in FP2 as he could not quite get the car working on low fuel.
In spite of the strong performance and consistency displayed, he was not pleased with his day of track time, as he commented.
“So-so. I think it’s been a good start to the weekend. We’ve got a good baseline, but certainly not happy or confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel.”
While reckoning the potential of his race simulations, the British driver mentioned a lack of feeling on the qualifying sims.
“I feel like [on the] high fuel, I felt good, just low fuel, similar to Bahrain – too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”
A close battle at the front
McLaren F1 will also be able to fight for the top spots, duelling with other teams at the front of the grid for the first 25 points of 2025. In Norris’s opinion, there is not a clear favourite for Sunday.
“I don’t know what positive means, but I think we’ll be strong. Like we said the whole time, we’ll be strong, Ferrari will be strong, Mercedes [too]. I don’t know, we’ll wait and see.”
He also summed up his 51 laps for McLaren’s session report, confirming his positive impression but highlighting the fact that it’s only a good starting point which needs to be developed.
“A decent first day back in the car. Good feelings, all in all. We’re struggling a lot with the balance, so we need to make a few changes to get it into a better place, but a good start to the weekend for us as a team. A good baseline, but a lot to improve on.”
Home cheers for Piastri
Australian native Piastri was a bit more satisfied after his first day of session in front of his home crowd, ending the second session of the day in P2 behind Charles Leclerc.:
“I think the pace was pretty solid, still a few things to try and iron out to make the car feel a bit nicer. The underlying pace seems strong. I’m pretty happy with the day’s work. It’s going to be pretty different for the next two days, so how much today means, we don’t know, but it feels pretty good.”
New conditions to come
Asked on his podium chances, the young driver, who has recently renewed his deal with McLaren F1, tried to be more realistic, also taking into account the potential weather changes:
“It’s hard to say. The weather’s going to be pretty different on Sunday, and that’s going to throw some spanners in the works, but I think the underlying pace of the car seems strong.
“Ferrari have looked pretty quick today and Mercedes at other points as well. Things are looking good, but we don’t want to just try and aim for the podium, we want to aim for the top step.”
Piastri summed up his day, and his 50 laps for McLaren as well, focusing on the work he was able to carry out and the need for a bit more time.
“It was a productive first day back for us, and it was pretty encouraging. We’ve still got some things to work on, but the pace was there. We’ve tried a few different things and gathered some good information, the car feels different to last year but that’s pretty normal. I am excited to see what we can do tomorrow – it’s been a pretty positive first day.”
