McLaren arrives at Suzuka with the awareness that the Japanese track could be a favorable track for the characteristics of the MCL38, which during this start to the season has shown good qualities in medium and high speed corners.
A characteristic that its progenitor had already shown in the last championship, so much so that a few months ago in Suzuka it achieved a nice double podium behind the dominator Max Verstappen. Precisely for this reason, the Woking team is aware that the fourth round of the 2024 world championship will be among those to be completed, starting from qualifying.
In the first part of the season, McLaren was not always able to extract the maximum in qualifying, partly due to the limitations of the car, partly due to the drivers' errors. At times the character of the British single-seater did not allow it to express its maximum potential in qualifying, thus finding itself forced to then recover those positions in the race. In Bahrain, Norris started seventh ahead of his teammate, in Saudi Arabia he started from sixth place behind Piastri, while in Australia he managed to get a good second row, albeit aided by Charles Leclerc's errors and Sergio Perez's penalty.
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Up to this point in the championship, on two out of three occasions, the Briton started behind one of the two Aston Martins, which however showed greater competitiveness in qualifying on the flying lap against a slightly more disappointing race pace. Although there are also technical reasons, on the other hand Norris himself believes that he was not able to make the most of his car on the flying lap and that this is partly due to his driving style.
A central aspect on a track like Suzuka, where managing to overtake is anything but simple: with a McLaren which, according to its predictions, will be in close combat with Ferrari, on a track which highlights the qualities of the drivers and punishes mistakes, it will be essential not to make mistakes and position yourself as high up on the grid as possible.
“I think this weekend the values ​​on the field are clearer, with Max who will be in front. Then there are the Ferraris and we are there with them, because in Suzuka there are more high-speed corners. Sometimes we are a little behind in qualifying, even compared to the Astons. In qualifying we find it more difficult to extract the full potential of the car, even on my part. In trying to get everything out of the car, I'm struggling a bit, both on my part and due to the characteristics of the car.”
“In qualifying, I always wanted to push a little more in certain areas and I want to go on the attack. Instead I have to do the exact opposite. It's difficult to understand, because I would like to do better in qualifying, but it's not possible to do that with these tires and with our car. You almost have to drive it the opposite of how you think you should drive it”, explained Norris, underlining how with this generation of cars it is much more difficult to find the right time.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“There is something that is punishing me in terms of performance in qualifying because I can't adapt quickly enough to how cars of this generation need to be driven on the flying lap. But it's something that depends on me. It's my job to adapt and do a better job, but also because of the way our car is made, the way you have to manage it, it continues to be a rather difficult car to drive. It's difficult to push it to the limit and always be perfect in qualifying, but we're working on it.”
It is not the first time that Norris criticizes his performances on the flying lap, given that last year he also criticized himself for failing on several occasions to realize his potential on the flying lap. The main example is undoubtedly Qatar, where Piastri took a victory in the sprint race after pole, while Norris made mistakes in both qualifying sessions of the weekend.
But the problems he has now are more linked to the feeling of having to extract more from the car and better understand where the limit is rather than the errors themselves: “If you ask me now how I can drive a curve at low speed, I don't I have an idea. One day I do it one way, the next day another and I struggle to understand exactly how to improve.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
“There are moments when everything aligns and I manage to do a good qualifying, but in the last two years I've lost a bit of that feeling on the flying lap, I can't attack and do the laps I would like to do. It's difficult not to push and don't attack 100% when you're competitive and want to do a better lap.” This discussion also partly recalls that of the Ferraristi last season when, due to an unpredictable car, they sometimes struggled to find the limit and made mistakes in qualifying, penalizing their position on the starting grid.
Last year, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested that many of Norris's problems in qualifying could be solved by changing his mentality and not always attacking 100%, but by managing the lap better. But Norris thinks things aren't that simple, because different circumstances require different approaches.
“It's like you can't drive at 100%. Going at 100% works one lap out of ten. So when you want to get into Q3 and do your best lap, it might be that suddenly you have to drive at 98%. a complicated and difficult thing to manage. For example, the wind makes a big difference, but even having warmer or colder tires, these aspects change how fast you can go in corners.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
“These are things I'm working on and I think I've made some progress in the last two weeks, better understanding the limits of the car. I think last weekend [in Australia] we've seen some indication of how, when everything aligns, the performance is there.”
Norris has spent some time in recent simulator sessions to resolve the problems experienced in qualifying, but virtual reality is not the best environment, because it lacks the tension and pressure that is felt on the track in the key moments of the weekend .
“It's difficult, because it's not always the best way to experiment. There are some techniques and skills to try to drive in a relaxed way. These are things you can do on the simulator. But recreating the exact tension of when you're in the car and doing a qualifying lap, that's not easy to replicate on a simulator.”
#Norris #Close #Ferrari #qualifying
