Lando Norris: “Some Things We Have To Optimise And Figure Out.”

The McLaren men had mixed emotions regarding their team’s upgrades ahead of the French Grand Prix.

The drastic changes weren’t what Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo assumed would arrive in Le Castellet.

Lando Norris noted, “It’s not as much as what I would dream of but yes, I don’t think we expected a lot of it. We expected a small step and it’s still too early to say. I’ve just driven it and things feel different – some things a little bit better and some things we have to optimise and figure out. But yes, reasonable.”

The Woking-based team brought a new engine cover, rear wing and sidepods. Both drivers tested out the parts. Ricciardo attempted to get a feel of the upgrades during FP1 while Norris tried them in FP2.

The Brit finished seventh with a best time of 1:35:232 after 21 laps in the first session. Then he came sixth with an improved time of 1:33:607 in the second session.

Lando shared, “Daniel had it this morning for FP1, so he’s understood a little bit more. For me, I’ve still got to figure out how to drive the car because it’s a little bit different in that regard. I guess I’m playing a little bit of catch-up and trying to understand that compared to Daniel, but at the same time it’s been good, we’ve been able to compare data easily today because we chose that strategy of me not having it, him having it, and therefore we can look at the data tonight and extract more performance for tomorrow.”

There was a slightly different feeling for him once behind the wheel. He’ll have to learn quickly how to manage and maximise the car’s potential and limitations to adapt accordingly.

Ricciardo revealed, “The parts look different, don’t they? Yes, you feel it, but it’s also, we haven’t driven on this track yet as well with these cars so the reference [is] to another track, so I do feel some differences but it’s not like a back-to-back test if you will. I think in the afternoon we made a bit of progress so that was better but I think there’s more to get out of it, so we’ll do some homework tonight – usual Friday night – but I think everything ran fairly smooth today so we got plenty of laps in and it wasn’t too hot in the car actually – it felt okay.”

Daniel finished tenth with a time of 1:35:660 from 21 laps in the first session. For the second, the Aussie accomplished ninth place with a best lap time of 1:33:984 after 23 laps.

The Honey Badger admitted that on the straights, he’s not sure where they stand. Luckily, there’s FP3 and Qualifying to get it together.

For the driver standings, Lando Norris is siting seventh with 64 points. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo is in 12th with 17 points. As a team, McLaren is in a P4 battle with Alpine level on 81 points in the constructor standings.

Headline Image Credit: McLaren.