Lando Norris was pleased with the result obtained with his MCL38 in the opening round, splitting the Mercedes drivers and bagging a valuable P6.
The 24-year-old Briton showed a good command of the car, setting good times in FP1 and FP3, to finally qualify seventh for the starting grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix, concluding in a solid result for the team, as together with Oscar Piatri (8th), they picked up good points for the Woking-based squad.
In comparison to the horror show of the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, McLaren starts this year with a competitive and solid package.
“It was a tough race, but I think we still had a good race with good pace, and it was a definite improvement on last year, so I think we can be happy as a team. I think the wind hurt us a bit today. It changed a lot from the last few days, and it felt a lot worse in some corners, but we moved forward, and it was the best we could have hoped for today. A good start to the year.
The Brit managed to split the Mercedes’ of Russell and Hamilton, and that was something he was pleased with.
“For our pace to still be very similar to Mercedes is a good thing,” Norris continued.
“At times we thought we could challenge Ferrari but Carlos [Sainz] showed what Ferrari’s potential was.”
“We were close to Mercedes, I don’t think we had any advantage over them. The pace was so similar that as soon as I got into the dirty air, I just didn’t have enough of an advantage to get a chance to overtake, even with DRS.”
On Friday, Norris could have been on the front row but had a terrible first sector. Nonetheless, he feels P5 would have been the maximum in the end.
“Maybe after yesterday, I expected a little bit more,” he said. “But when I say a bit more, there’s a big position change, but not a big lap time change. One and a half tenths yesterday was four positions.”
“Honestly, I didn’t think it would change too much. Maybe I could have been ahead of George but that’s about it. So I think we’re where we expect it to be. That’s a good start to the season.”
“Considering it’s a track we struggle with still, the fact we’re so close to Mercedes is still a good sign for us that some tracks will be able to be ahead.”
“I’m confident, the team is doing a good job and that’s a good starting position.”
The Dutchman World Champion was proclaimed winner of the season opener over his teammate by a margin of 22.457s. Norris commented on the dominance shown by the Austrian team. It’s expectant that it will be the third consecutive year of Red Bull’s supremacy, but Norris expressed that what he has seen throughout the weekend — despite the final result on Saturday — shows that this year there is more parity among the teams. He expects McLaren to be stronger at other venues after struggles in Bahrain over the last few years.
“I think everyone is closer, I don’t think it was as easy for Max.
“I think we’ve got to go to some tracks, especially on a day like today, you want a good race car, a car which is nice on tyres and fast. I think that’s as good as the Red Bull gets almost.
“So I’m hoping we will be closer at certain places. We’re going to still struggle at certain places too, but I think everyone’s more compressed. I think between Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston [Martin], us, maybe not so much the Astons today for some reason, but everyone’s closer, and I think it’s a good sign for everyone watching.
“It was a tough race, but I think we still had a good race with good pace, and it was a definite improvement on last year, so I think we can be happy as a team. I think the wind hurt us a bit today. It changed a lot from the last few days, and it felt a lot worse in some corners, but we moved forward, and it was the best we could have hoped for today. A good start to the year.”
