Lando Norris will be pleased to hear that McLaren have upgrades coming in a few races’ time, after the British driver and rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri endured a challenging qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Norris having been eliminated in Q2 and Piastri in Q1.
It was confirmed by McLaren CEO Zak Brown to Sky Sports F1 that the Woking-based side will be fitting some upgrades in a few races, with the target being to improve the MCL60’s rear grip, an area that Norris and Piastri “say the car is lacking”.
Norris will start the first race of the season from 11th on the grid, after missing out on a spot in Q3 by over two-tenths of a second, with the likes of Nico Hulkenberg having made it into the final shootout over the Brit.
Norris had been in contention of being eliminated in Q1, with the 23-year-old having been in the bottom five ahead of his final lap.
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Whilst he successfully made it to Q2 before being eliminated, Brown is aware that McLaren have “some work ahead of us”, with points looking like a tall order.
What will give McLaren some confidence is that Norris wasn’t pleased with his fastest Q2 lap, suggesting that the British driver has better pace for the race at the Bahrain International Circuit.
“He (Norris) came on the radio and said he wasn’t very happy with the lap,” Brown also said to Sky Sports F1.
“We’ve got some work ahead of us tomorrow and for the season but we knew that coming out of testing.
“We’ll give it all we’ve got for tomorrow and we’ll see if we can have some good strategy and get out cars in the points.”
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On the other side of the McLaren garage, Piastri was unfortunately eliminated in Q1, with the Australian set to start from 18th for his debut.
The young Aussie never looked likely to make it into Q2, with the 21-year-old having been virtually five-tenths away from a spot in the top 15.
Had he somehow managed to squeeze into Q2, then he would’ve eliminated his team-mate, with Norris having finished Q1 in P15.