Norris knows where to improve: “This is why we lose time’
F1 News
Lando Norris finished the Sprint race in P6, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was briefly in the lead and crossed the chequered flag only behind Max Verstappen. The Briton says that his team is still going in the right direction, but he also knows where they can still improve.
"I would say [we are going in the right direction]. Overall we probably struggled a little bit more with pace comparing to the leaders, comparing to where we were, but I think we're just not in the optimal range of downforce," Norris told GPblog among other media about where his car is more vulnerable.
He continued: "I think we went for a bit too high and that's costing us probably close to six, seven, eight tenths just on the straights alone and then you're adding clipping and the battery harvest, it can easily be up to almost a second in the straights during a race, but obviously we were getting a decent amount back in the corners, so there's always this little to and for, but yeah, maybe just not in the optimal place."
More difficult weekend without practice sessions
Norris explained that it was harder to get the setup right thanks to the lack of practice sessions this weekend. "I think if we had FP2 and FP3 and we saw we were 20 kph down on every straight… We're very good in medium and high speed, no matter what downforce we're on, we're losing more than what we're gaining at the end of the day, and we're paying the price for it. I think it's the penalty of just having everyone qualifying on Friday, we just weren't able to set the car in the right way."
The British driver also underlined that Sunday will also not be an easy day for him. "It's going to be a struggle at points, we know it, we just have to deal with it and do the best we can."