Lando Norris’s 2025 F1 season couldn’t have begun better, but he is still not satisfied with his feeling with the MCL39 ahead of the Chinese GP. In fact, Norris had won the opening round held in Australia and had a strong team performance overall with a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying.
Not pleased with driveability
However, he is not completely happy with the handling as he continues to look for improvements in every area. Norris discussed the topic in the press conference ahead of the 2025 F1 Chinese GP:
“I mean, I think as a driver, you’re always at the limit of your car and what your car can do, so you’re always trying to look at places to improve. I’m trying to look at things I can do better. My start was good—it wasn’t perfect, no—but it was clear where I lost some of my performance in the launch.
“Just from a car point of view, the car is performing well, but it’s still extremely difficult to drive. We know in certain conditions, like in the wettest conditions, Max was just as quick as us. In dry conditions, we were a bit better. So just making the car a little bit more predictable and a little bit more comfortable.”
The great potential and speed of the challenger can’t be denied. However, Norris does believe there are plenty of marginal gains achievable with a bit more work and time.
“But it’s at a good point—I can’t complain about the whole thing. It’s at a good level, but between Oscar and myself, there are things that we both comment on, which gives the guys and girls back in the factory a clear direction on what we want to improve. The car’s great, but we always want more.”
A long-lasting issue
Asked to elaborate on what displeases him within the car, Norris explained that its basic structure which he struggles with understanding.
Another issue is the fact that most of these troubles have been carried over from the past seasons, opening up on how if affects him on the circuit regarding his own preferences.
“In general, some of the traits are the same. It still doesn’t suit my driving style at all. I’ve almost gotten to a point where I’ve just accepted that you can’t have a perfect car that suits your style. Maybe it suits some people, but I’ve kind of stopped asking for exactly what I want and more just focused on whatever makes the car quicker.
“It’s probably a tricky car to drive and to put together a lap. Clearly, it’s taken a step forward from last year. At the end of the day, my job is to drive whatever car I get given. That’s why I’m here. That’s why McLaren wanted me. They believe I can drive it better than others can.
“Half and half. It’s similar characteristics and some of those characteristics I don’t like and don’t suit the way I want to drive, in an attacking way. It doesn’t suit me in terms of me wanting to push the entries and push the braking. It’s very weak, I would say, from that point of view.”
He is doing his best
“Not what I like but at the same time some of it is down to the adaptation, needing to change my driving style every year, because the car I drive is very different to what McLaren was a few years ago, clearly, because then we were at the back and now, we’re at the front. But some things carry on. Some things are like ‘this is a McLaren’ for those reasons and I’ve only ever driven McLarens, so that’s all I know.”
The British driver has just begun his seventh F1 season at the Woking-based team and has experienced a wide range of experiences with the papaya squad, from not even getting into the points, to the glorious 2024 and his first ever race win. He played a big part in helping McLaren win the Constructors’ Championship.
Norris added that his cars have quite often had unique characteristics, something Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz have mentioned in the past as well. Nonetheless, the five-time race winner plans to get on with it.
“I think it’s unique in certain aspects. Obviously, we have our strengths and weakness and whenever someone has been at McLaren and gone to another team they have often said how hard or odd the McLaren has been to drive, whether that’s Daniel or with Carlos. It’s also like all I’ve got used to.
“So I’ve got to the point where I’ll just drive whatever car I have to drive as long as it’s fighting for a win and quick enough to fit for a win. I’m happy enough to drive what I’m given.”
A tight balance
Asked to elaborate on the reason behind such drivability issues after driving for McLaren for so long, the championship leader went into further details.
“The thing is the aero guys and girls back in the factory they just try to find lap time. You’ve got to balance how you work the car. Like certain other teams have said, at times you can try to find a more peaky aero balance. If it works at the peak, it’s better, but it might be trickier to drive and worse in windy conditions.
“Or do you try to get rid of some of that peak grip and make it a slightly more all-rounded car? You have to play with this balance, because it’s difficult to get both. You have to choose what direction you want to go in. And definitely, I think some of what I want from a car is first of all just very hard to get. That’s probably the best answer.”
The Brit detailed what he likes from a car and how rarely he has got in during his time at McLaren to date.
“For me, a good front at apex, that’s kind of all I feel like I want, but I very rarely have what I need from that perspective. But the car can still win races. It’s not like if I don’t have what I want, the car is bad. I can still get the most out of the car, if I don’t have what I want. There are just compromises.”
Adaptability is key
Finding a middle ground between performance and driveability has always been tough, but ultimately Norris has personally opted to favour the first one.
“It’s so complicated when the guys and thew girls try to take you through… If I do want more front end at mid-corner, at the minute we can only get that if we compromise low-speed or high-speed performance, or making the car more sensitive to windy conditions. There are so many compromises you have to make and at the end of the day, you just want the best all-rounded car.
“I’ve got a better understanding of that over the past couple of years on driving styles, how I need to drive the car. Maybe making a bit of that switch from ‘I want this from the car, and I want to keep driving my way until you make it more suited me.’ I guess I’ve kind of thrown that away and just said, ‘alright, give me the best car, and I need to adapt a lot more to the car I get given.’”
Change is always part of growth
However, with time Norris has learned how to drive a bit against his usual style and with a more pragmatic approach, adapting to the different McLaren challenger.
“It’s not the most comfortable, it’s not what I like the most, it’s now what I can get the most out of but over the last year and a half, I’ve probably learned more about my driving than I did in the previous five years, just because the car has changed, and I’ve fallen into this philosophy of give me the best car and I’ll adapt to that rather than give me the car I want.”
The 25-year-old also discussed his pace and where him and McLaren stands on the grid compared to major championship contenders Ferrari and Red Bull. Norris admitted to not expect such a distance to the Ferraris on dry conditions, as it happened during qualifying in Australia with Leclerc in P7 and Norris and Piastri on the front row.
“Definitely. The gap in qualifying surprised us a bit. Our goal was to be on pole, and we expected to be quickest, but we also expected Ferrari to be a good chunk quicker than they were. In the end, they were what—seven, eight tenths off? They’re not that far off by any means. If you looked at FP1, FP2, FP3, their pace never looked that far behind.
“All of Ferrari’s race runs on Friday were a lot closer to us than anyone else. In fact, I think Ferrari’s race pace on Friday was maybe even better than ours. So we were surprised, I’m sure they seemed a bit shocked as well by why they were so far off in the race. But it just shows how difficult it is to predict. “
Fast rivals…
Norris also compared his performance to Verstappen’s in the past Australian round, highlighting his strengths.
“One weekend, everything is going well, and the next, it can turn upside down. You saw how quick Max was at the end of the race. Even at the start, in the first five to seven laps, and then again in the last five to seven laps, Max was just as quick as us.
“But in that middle period of the race, when you have to understand the tyres and know how much to push, we seemed very strong. That’s when you need a well-balanced car in drying conditions, so the tyre degradation happens evenly, rather than the front wearing out more than the rear or vice versa.”
… and a fast teammate
Finally, he also had some words of praise for his younger teammate Oscar Piastri, who is beginning his third season with McLaren, underlining the importance for a team of having two drivers who are able to perform consistently at the same level.
“Also, there’s a good amount that Oscar and I have learned from each other about how to drive the car efficiently. That’s an advantage—not every team has two teammates who can really rely on each other and push each other forward. It’s something we’ve worked on at McLaren, and I think it’s paying off,” concluded Norris ahead of the 2025 F1 Chinese GP.
