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Brown denies frustration after Norris statements: 'That's motivating'
- Sam Godber
Despite McLaren having a car capable of fighting for podiums as of the British Grand Prix, Lando Norris recently indicated that he has the greatest difficulty with the revamped McLaren. McLaren CEO Zak Brown denies that these statements by the young Briton have led to frustration, instead telling Motorsport that these statements are actually motivating.
After a shaky start to the season, McLaren brought some major upgrades to the Austrian Grand Prix. These seemed to have an immediate effect, and when both McLaren drivers had access to the new package during the race at Silverstone, Norris and Piastri were immediately competing for podium places. Although, according to Norris, this was the biggest update introduced by McLaren in the past five years, the MCL60 is still difficult to drive.
Brown: 'His comments are motivating'
Asked if these comments have been somewhat demotivating on those at the factory, Zak Brown is clear:"No, we are all motivated. We kind of get happy together, we get grumpy together. So, if he's made a comment, it's consistent, it's motivating". In doing so, Brown also looks back to the start of the season. The McLaren did not go well at all in the first few races, but in the wind tunnel the team was already seeing encouraging data.
"Meanwhile, underneath the surface we knew we were seeing great development in the wind tunnel, so it was like publicly taking a battering at the start of the year while knowing underneath things were actually going really well. And the team handled it really well, so we're motivated," Brown said. At the Spa Grand Prix, however, the orange cars' performance was somewhat disappointing, which was due to too much downforce on the car. The team, especially with a view to the race at Monza, is determined to make improvements in that regard.
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