Despite a convincing first day at Spa, Lando Norris refuses to get carried away and expects to see Red Bull take a step forward before qualifying.
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Second in FP2 of the Belgian Grand Prix, Lando Norris had an encouraging first day at Spa-Francorchamps. The McLaren driver is the only one to have finished within two tenths of the best time of Kimi Antonelli, confirming his team’s progress.
Equipped with a new rear wing endplate, the MCL40 proved competitive, although the Briton will have to serve a ten-place grid penalty after fitting a new engine component.
Despite this performance, Norris prefers to remain cautious.
“I would say yes. In one-lap pace, we seemed quite competitive,” he explained.
“But there have already been several times this season when we were fast in FP2 before losing ground in qualifying. Today, the goal was mainly to follow our program. FP1 was not very clean.”
Progress, but still unknowns
The reigning world champion also recalled that McLaren encountered several setbacks during the first session, limiting his track time.
“We had some issues that prevented us from leaving the garage as quickly as planned.”
“The red flag at the end of the session also stopped us from continuing our work with a lot of fuel. Despite that, we improved between the two sessions and we will try to take another step in FP3.”
Norris expects to see Red Bull accelerate
While McLaren seems competitive, Norris believes that Friday’s performances do not yet reflect the true hierarchy. According to him, Red Bull usually hides its hand before revealing its full potential on Saturday.
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“We haven’t really changed our approach this weekend, so there is no reason to expect anything different.”
“Red Bull generally doesn’t show all its potential on Friday. Tomorrow, they will be as fast, if not faster. Let’s wait and see.”
The Briton also offers another explanation for the gaps observed during the tests.
“I think that, on our side, with Mercedes, we have probably used a more powerful engine mode, while others may not have done so yet.”
A still uncertain hierarchy
Despite his excellent second place, Norris continues to evaluate McLaren cautiously against his rivals.
“At the moment, I think we are probably only the fourth fastest team. But if we manage to put everything together, we might be a bit closer than at Silverstone. It’s encouraging.”
FP3 and qualifying will now verify whether Norris’s analysis is correct, or if McLaren is truly able to compete with Mercedes and Red Bull throughout the Belgian weekend.