Lando Norris has to deal with the start syndrome: the winner of Zandvoort fails to take the lead of the race when he takes his McLaren to pole position. It seems like a curse because it takes away from the young English driver the pleasure of celebrating a pole position start and risks conditioning the start of a GP.
In Holland, the superiority of the evolved MCL38 was such that it allowed Lando to easily overtake the race leader, Max Verstappen, on lap 18, but the Zandvoort star demonstrated that not all the blame for the slow start should be attributed to Norris.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, attacks Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
His teammate Oscar Piastri also lost a position when the lights went out, compromising a race that, perhaps, would have seen him finish ahead of Max’s Red Bull, taking an important one-two. The Australian was overtaken by George Russell and ended up in dirty air behind the Mercedes, unable to fully exploit the potential of his papaya car.
“Oscar had the pace to beat Max,” explained team principal Andrea Stella. “So we missed a good opportunity. Departures will definitely become a priority for McLaren in the future.”
It is clear, therefore, that the punctual recurrence of the problem does not depend only on Norris, but evidently also concerns the McLaren clutch release system, given that Piastri in Holland suffered the same problem.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Norris had made a good initial start from pole position, but suffered rear wheel spin in the second phase of acceleration, allowing Verstappen to pull alongside on the inside and take the lead.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix the scenario was repeated with Piastri alongside him. Norris made a good initial start, but once again, in the second phase of the acceleration, he lost momentum, which allowed his teammate to pass him at Turn 1.
The hat-trick of bad pole starts was completed at Zandvoort when both Norris and Piastri lost a position by spinning their wheels. While Lando’s poor starts have been a target for criticism, it’s fair to say that the blame is not entirely on the driver, as Oscar also suffered the same consequence: it’s clear that there’s something about McLaren’s starting system that needs to be reworked, as there are many complex technical factors at play.
After a period in which the start was completely electronically managed with the “launch control”, the FIA wanted to bring the start back into the hands of drivers, whereas in the past they simply released the clutch and the electronics did everything else by controlling the wheelspin.
The clutch release operation is back under the driver’s control and the FIA has placed a series of limits on how the clutch levers must work, while the ECU mappings are closely monitored by the FIA which measures the drivers’ reaction time at the start.
Leclerc’s clutch with a lever on the Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: George Piola
Sainz’s two-lever clutch on the Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: George Piola
Behind the steering wheel there can also be two clutch levers, but these must be identical not only in shape, but also in movement and mapping. The paddles, for example, must function linearly with the release of the clutch, without any reference points at the moment of detachment as was the case before 2017.
It is legitimate to ask, then, why there can be a responsibility of the team in the start from a standstill. The answer is simple: the teams analyze each start that is simulated not only to train the driver but also to collect the data in a database that takes into account a series of parameters: type of asphalt, track temperature, number of engine revolutions, torque delivered and other functional data that are gradually available, in an attempt to optimize the available grip. From the availability of the acquired database, the system chooses the file that is most similar to the conditions that the driver must face to avoid damaging skidding.
If you consider that the hybrid of the power unit kicks in after 100 km/h, you understand that the start must be divided into different moments: the initial sprint and then the subsequent acceleration at the first gear change and the consequent progression. Exerting too much torque at the start can cause the wheels to slip and vice versa not being at the ideal engine speed can determine a too slow start.
The analysis of Norris’s starts has shown that the criticality emerges in the second phase. This means that the initial start and initial reaction are good, but things are less good in the acceleration phase. In Zandvoort, according to the official data of the FOM, the reaction times to the turning off of the traffic lights of Norris and Verstappen were identical 0”28.
However, when it came to reaching 200 km/h, Verstappen did it in 5”23, while Norris took 5”64 due to wheelspin.
It is clear, then, that it is not right to attribute the bad start to Norris if there are other factors that can influence the performance beyond how the clutch is released and we are referring to a series of parameters described above.
McLaren, aware of these aspects, must modify its processes to put Norris and Piastri in the condition to make the best possible start in changing conditions. There is never a start the same as another. And for this reason it becomes essential to free Lando’s mind from a “bug” that can cause a lot of damage on a psychological level: thinking about a start syndrome…
#McLaren #Bad #starts #Norris #fault
