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Norris: "Wet running not as tricky as expected"

09:31, 01 Aug 2018

byBobby Vincent

Lando Norris had his first experience of F1 action in the wet yesterday and the highly-rated McLaren junior driver believes that it's not as tricky as he thought it would be.

Yesterday was Day One of testing at the Hungaroring and it began with dry conditions but a rain shower later in the afternoon make conditions slightly trickier for the drivers.

Norris was challenged at the weekend in his Formula 2 car as rain struck the Hungaroring - despite this, the young driver admitted that he was quite nervous to try the MCL33 in those conditions.

"It's the first time I've driven a Formula One car in the rain, so it was good to feel the difference from F2 to F1 in the wet," Norris told PlanetF1.

"At the same time, you have a lot more grip in Formula 2, so it's just on another level, in a similar way to how it is in the dry.

"Cornering speeds and braking performance are much better than you'd expect in the rain, so I had more confidence than I thought I was going to have.

"I was a bit nervous before I went out because it got properly wet very quickly!

"I had a good feeling even in the wet, but then it dried out very quickly. I've experienced basically everything today weather-wise, and did 107 laps, so that's really positive."

Norris finished fourth fastest after Day One with a time of 1:19.294 for McLaren.

"It was really enjoyable to get back in the car today, especially as it's one year since I first made my debut," Norris added.

"The first three-quarters of the day were obviously really good.

"I did a lot of testing; quite a few aero runs but at the same time a good amount of proper runs, so I had a good feeling for the car - until it rained! That put us back a bit, so there are some things we'll need to carry on testing tomorrow."