‘Pretty shocking’ Lando Norris opens up on McLaren struggles

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo at 2022 McLaren launch

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Lando Norris has opened up on his recent struggles with McLaren, which were once again apparent at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend. Norris has endured a somewhat difficult 2022 season picking up just one podium finish, to leave him seventh in the driver standings, and his team in fifth.

After battling throughout the campaign to try and break into the top three, his problems mounted in Spa when he could only manage a disappointing 12th place, three places above fellow McLaren struggler Daniel Ricciardo who finished 15th. Norris found himself in a bunch of cars that struggled to get past Alex Albon’s Williams on Sunday, leading to his below-par finish.

Speaking afterwards the youngster has admitted his McLaren car’s struggle with DRS is what ultimately cost them around the famous Spa track. Per Motorsport.com, he said: “I think we were probably one of the quicker ones on the straights.

“Where we lose a lot is in DRS, for some reason in DRS we’re pretty shocking. Some cars are a lot better than others, like in a pure straight line condition. I think yesterday we were quicker than Red Bull. But then the Red Bull opens DRS and gain somehow like another 15km/h and is in a completely different league to a lot of people.

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So there’s something we’re maybe missing with DRS, so that makes our overtaking opportunities less than other people. But straight line we were probably one of the quickest this weekend, final sector probably one of the quickest at times yesterday.

“But just slow speed, medium speed, high speed, nothing was a strength this weekend. We’re just a bit down in every area.”

What was arguably most worrying for his team though, was that Norris openly admitted that his struggles at the Belgian track came as no surprise to him. When asked if he was shocked by how tricky the race turned out to be, he said: “I think it’s exactly as I expected.

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“I think we knew the racing was going to be a lot worse here this year than it was in previous years, just because the slipstream is so much worse… I reckon we were just where we deserved to be. I think the gaps between all the cars looked bigger this weekend than normal. 

“A longer track, a lot of it’s all about efficiency here, running as low downforce as possible, but still having a car that performs very well in all the high-speed and low-speed corners. And that’s clearly what we don’t have.”

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