McLaren does not fully tune car for Norris: 'The car needs to be fast'

Faster car for Norris

Norris was the man at McLaren in 2022, eventually finishing best of the rest in the Drivers' Championship. In seventh place he finished ahead of both Alpine drivers, but for McLaren it was not good enough to keep Alpine behind in the Constructors' Championship. Indeed, Daniel Ricciardo had scored far fewer points.

Despite that big gap with his teammate and a handsome seventh place, Norris wants more. "Every driver wants a car, which is just quick and I think that's always been the goal the last few years. But, personally, as a driver, I spend a bit more time to try and go through things with all the engineers, to give them the understanding of maybe a little bit more of what we struggle with in terms of balance and how the car acts through the corners," Norris told GPblog and others during McLaren's press event.

However, it is not a car made especially for Norris. Despite the young Brit already entering his fifth season with the team, the team is working mainly to make a fast car. "So, maybe this year's car is one which can suit me more, but when I say suit me, it's also just to make the car quicker in general. It's not just suit me personally as a driving style."

Only testing in Bahrain

However, there is not much time to test the new MCL60. Unlike previous seasons, there will be no testing in Barcelona in 2023. As a result, F1 teams will only have a three-day winter test in Bahrain. For the drivers, this means a day and a half of testing in the new car before the F1 season starts with the first GP. Far too little, the McLaren driver judges.

"It's not a lot. 1.5 days is really not a lot when you want to be able to try things. It's a time when you have to get comfortable. When you have to get through aero programs, get an understanding of the car, find a limit with the car. There's a lot to achieve both from the team's side and understanding it, but also from my side and the driver's side to get to the limit and to find the limit quickly. I think thankfully not too many things have changed in terms of rules and regulations or there are some small ones. It should be something we can get up to speed relatively quickly on, but 1.5 days before the first weekend of the season is really not much at all. So it's going to be a challenge," concluded the 23-year-old driver.