McLaren arrived in Mexico with the awareness that the nineteenth stage of the world championship could prove more complicated than other events, especially if compared with the Grands Prix of Japan and Qatar, which were well suited to certain characteristics of the MCL60. Over the course of the season, in fact, the Woking single-seater has shown that it can perform well in medium and high speed corners, while suffering in the slower ones, above all due to a front which, in slower speeds, does not guarantee the right support in rotation phase.
However, since free practice the British team had actually shown good performances in terms of setting times and race pace. In fact, one of the particular aspects of this track is that it has a very smooth asphalt, so teams like AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo have been able to lower the car and find more downforce from the bottom. In the same way, McLaren also lowered the car, so much so that from the onboards it was possible to appreciate the continuous rubbing of the skate on the main straight, greater than that of other teams. This has helped to partially compensate for some problems, but it remains an expedient that does not work on all tracks, partly due to layout requirements, partly due to the type of road surface.
After the positive indications on Friday, attention was focused on Saturday and the possibilities of achieving a good position on the starting grid to aspire to the podium. However, thanks to some unfortunate episodes and a mistake by the British driver himself in the first attempt on the soft, Norris was unable to overcome the Q1 trap, thus being forced to start from the back of the grid. On the one hand there was the awareness that they undoubtedly had a superior pace compared to their mid-pack rivals, but at the same time McLaren were also aware that overtaking their rivals would not be easy at all.
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Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
In fact, beyond the specific difficulties deriving from the layout of the track, the MCL60 had shown top speeds lower than those of most other single-seaters and, if a DRS train had been created, at that point it would have been extremely complex to be able to overtaking, with the risk of ending up stuck in traffic. For this reason, the Woking strategists opted for a different race tactic: Norris was the only one to start on the soft, in order to try to go on the attack in the first laps and gain some positions by skimming the group.
“Yes, absolutely. She helped me a little bit at the start, coming off the ideal line and things like that. It’s always difficult at Turn 1, it can go the way you want, it can not go the way you want. But I think we played everything smart,” Norris explained. The choice of the softer compound was also part of a broader vision of the strategy: if the majority of the grid had chosen to opt for a single stop, McLaren had decided to focus on a double pit stop, so the first stint would necessarily have been however short. The objective was to gain a few positions at the start, then stop early and ride in free air, thus being able to impose one’s own pace.
From this point of view, the fact that Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon kept the group behind them fairly compact, thus allowing the Briton to compensate for part of the time lost due to the additional stop, also worked in favor. In fact, until a few moments before the red flag came out, Norris had been able to climb up to eighth place, finally getting into clean air. Given that hard had still shown good signs on the degradation side, at that point the objective would have been to push and understand what the real pace of his MCL60 could be, but neutralization changed the scenarios. When the Safety Car came in, McLaren had not yet had the opportunity to assess the damage to the Dane’s car and, above all, to the barriers from the television images.
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Alex Albon, Williams Fw45, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
However, with little time available before the end of the lap, the engineers still chose to bring in Norris, who then dropped two positions back, slipping to tenth place. With half the race still to be completed, McLaren had opted for the medium, but his comeback was further complicated at the restart when, to avoid contact on the main straight, he lost numerous positions, thus ending up in fifteenth place.
“I probably had to avoid a big accident, because people were moving around without realizing that there can be three of you. So I avoided two very serious accidents, which would have been very bad. So a little more self-awareness on the part of some drivers would be excellent,” explained Norris without sparing some criticism from his colleagues.
Beyond the beautiful comeback, which certainly leaves a smile for the pace shown and for the numerous overtakings made, so much so as to bring him back up to fifth place, at the same time the performance shown in Mexico also leaves some regrets, because the Briton believes that there if we had the opportunity to build a podium race. “I think that’s why people complain that I’m so disappointed sometimes. And it’s because of days like today. Of course I’m going to be disappointed, right? As if there was a chance to finish on the podium and get another trophy, score more points. Why on earth should I be happy about a day like yesterday? I moved up the rankings, better than I did in Qatar.”
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
“A very good race. Our pace was excellent from start to finish. We focused a lot on today. And I think that was evident and paid off. But yes, I will never be happy after that a day like yesterday [sabato], Right? Because I know what we can do. And when you have a day like today, do you think about what could have been? And yes, there are too many ‘what could have beens’ right now. I just need to tidy up a few things, and then things can start rolling.
Looking ahead, Norris remains optimistic about the upcoming Interlagos weekend, aiming to battle Ferrari and Mercedes: “When we made our estimates before the weekend, we didn’t expect to be fast this weekend. When I say we won’t be fast, it’s not that we expect to finish last, but just not to be as competitive as in Qatar and Japan. But we still expect to race against Ferraris and Mercedes, and things like that. We just don’t seem like the favorites for pole. This is our ‘we don’t look good this weekend’. Which is good.
“But yes, I think it will be another difficult weekend. It’s not as easy as the sprint, which makes things more exciting for everyone. Yes, another difficult race to predict. But I think, as we showed today, things they went better than we expected, the pace was extremely good. And, of course, I hope that’s the same in Sao Paulo.”
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