兰多诺里斯揭示惊人unfixe百分比d McLaren issues despite pace surge

Sam Cooper 18 Jul 2023 3:45 PM

Lando Norris with his chrome helmet. Silverstone, July 2023.

Lando Norris claims 70 per cent of the MCL60 is still not fixed as the team struggle with “inherent” issues that have plagued them for a number of years.

Last time out in Silverstone, McLaren enjoyed their best weekend of the season with a Safety Car the only thing costing them a double podium and it was a performance that did not look possible at the start of 2023.

But the MCL60 is by no means a finished product despite the upturn in performance and Norris, who secured the second P2 finish of his career, believes there are plenty of areas that need work.

Speaking after qualifying on Saturday in Silverstone, Norris suggested 70 per cent of the car was still not fixed.

“It’s like 70, 30. 70% not fixed, 30% fixed,” he told media including PlanetF1.com. “I think 70% at the minute, if we just had more load, more of it will be covered but it’s not the whole solution.

“I think days like today prove that we’re not miles away on certain things. It’s just some characteristics and handling that I would still say we’ve had as an inherent issue over the last five years that we definitely still struggle with. There’s still very good things that we’ve been able to carry through such as high speed performance.

“I think since I joined in 2019, we’ve always been good at certain tracks like this and Austria and things. So there’s plenty of things to work on and I think if we really can tackle those bigger problems, which are more fundamental and not just by adding load, then I’m confident we can have a much more competitive car from race one to race 24 next year.”

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After their success in Silverstone, the characteristics of the Hungarian Grand Prix look set to pose more of a challenge for McLaren and Norris believed a few more difficult circuits were on the horizon.

“I don’t want to look forward to the bad races,” the 23-year-old said. “There’s going to be a couple because there’s definitely tracks that we know we’re going to struggle more at.

“I think these [Austria and Silverstone] have been tracks where our strengths have really come through. But high speed is one of our strengths and we have quite a bit. I guess if I was going to be negative, there’s definitely going to be some tracks that we are going to struggle more at. Our weaknesses are still the same and quite weak.

“So I think we really need to try and tackle them if we want to be able to be here more consistently.”