Among the Albert Park qualifying verdicts one of the most surprising is that relating to McLaren. The exploit of Lando Norris, fourth ahead of the two Mercedes, came after the best time obtained by the English driver in FP3, confirming an unexpected technical form even for the same team.
Further confirmation also came from Daniel Ricciardo’s entry into Q3, who for the first time managed to enter the top-10 this season.
After Sakhir’s disastrous debut, and a timid step forward in Jeddah, McLaren didn’t arrive at Albert Park with weighty technical updates, and there were no great expectations ahead of the weekend.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, in the pits
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
However, the scenario has already changed in the first free practice, with the two MCL36s adapting very well to the track providing positive indications. A surprise, even for the engineers themselves, very welcome and confirmed session after session until the exploit in qualifying.
“There are no particular secrets – explained Norris with a smile – I believe that this performance is the result of two factors: the good work done on the development of the car and an adaptation of our car to the configuration of the Albert Park circuit. We took a slightly different setup direction compared to the previous two stages and it worked, but although a good job was undoubtedly done, the biggest difference is related to track adaptation, let’s say 30-70 or 20-80, where twenty is the trim “.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Norris’s analysis was also shared by Ricciardo. “I also believe in the track effect – confirmed Daniel – plus I think we are getting to know the car better and better, and this aspect helps anyway”.
According to team principal Andreas Seidl, some small updates also helped, but he confirmed what his drivers said by going further in his analysis.
“We must not forget that we started the season by losing a lot of time in the tests in Bahrain – commented Seidl – and we were not able to complete the knowledge of the car we had planned. This delay forced us to catch up on the first two weekends of the season, and for the first time this weekend the schedule was in line with what we usually do. If we put everything together, a favorable overall picture emerges that has allowed us to be competitive again. It’s a good confidence boost, a positive boost for the whole team ”.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The 58 laps of the race scheduled for tomorrow will not be downhill for Norris. In the race simulations completed yesterday, his pace was confirmed to be slower than the two Mercedes and Alonso’s Alpine, which will start behind him.
“I hope to have a good start – commented Lando – then we will see how tire management is confirmed. I’ll play it “.
It won’t be easy, but Lando, after two struggling races, got his fill of confidence.
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