A downbeat Lando Norris on Friday said that he was “not so comfortable” and felt he was unable to “nail it down” in spite of topping the times ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in practice for today’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in 1 minute, 42.260 seconds to outpace Piastri by 0.215 seconds round the spectacular 7.004km circuit in the Ardennes, leaving series leader and three-time world champion Max Verstappen a further 0.002 seconds adrift in his Red Bull.
“It was good if you just look at the timesheets, but it is very close and the Red Bull is very fast,” Norris said. “It might look good, but I’m not super comfortable and we have some work to do tonight.”
Photo: EPA-EF
He said he had “no ideas yet” as to how he could improve his car, but added that “we prepared well and we have a good set-up, but I don’t feel I have nailed it down yet.”
Asked if he felt that McLaren should support him more individually in a bid to challenge for the drivers’ title, Norris said that he expected it to become an issue if the team continued their recent success.
“I don’t know when that is,” he said. “Whether I’m 10 points behind Max or 15 points, at what point do you say: ‘Can you help out more?’ I don’t know when that point is and that’s not my decision.”
Photo: Reuters
“Oscar deserved to win in Hungary,” he said. “We are only halfway through the season and we still have a hell of a long way to go, so maybe a little bit further down the line, but that time is to be decided.
“I still need to earn it. I still need to go out there and drive quicker than everyone,” he said. “I have had a chance the whole season and we have never had a bias in the team before.”
Piastri claimed his maiden F1 victory in Hungary thanks, in part, to Norris obeying team orders to hand back the leading position after he had been given a strategic advantage in the pit stops.
This left Norris disappointed again, as he had been in several recent races when decisions he or the team made appeared to have cost him a victory.
Verstappen, who is to start today’s race with a 10-place grid penalty after Red Bull fitted his car with a fifth new engine, exceeding the season limit of four, said he also wanted to improve his car overnight.
“We tried a few things,” he said. “It is tricky to find the right balance. We have the data and will analyze it.”
“We have to start a few places back because of a penalty for the engine and so we still have to optimize a few things,” he said.
In cooling conditions, with rain threatening, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who it was announced earlier is to switch to Haas next year.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was eighth ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes.
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