Overtaken by Charles Leclerc and under pressure from Kimi Antonelli during the Sprint, Lando Norris believes that McLaren’s weaknesses are difficult to fix at Zandvoort.
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After the victory secured in Hungary before the summer break, McLaren hoped to confirm its return to the forefront at Zandvoort. But despite a front-row qualification for the Sprint, Lando Norris was much less optimistic after the 24 laps of the race.
The Briton held second place behind George Russell for a long time before succumbing to the return of Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver finally found a way through in the second half of the race, while Kimi Antonelli also closed in on the McLaren towards the end of the race.
Norris managed to keep his third place, but the assessment made after the finish was clear: the MCL40 still severely lacks performance in slow corners.
Slow corners weigh down McLaren
For Norris, the problem is not only about tire management or a bad setup. It is primarily an intrinsic characteristic of the car, already identified for several races.
“We simply don’t have the pace overall, especially in slow corners,” Norris explained. “We suffer a lot compared to others. We have noticed it throughout the weekend so far.”
Conversely, the McLaren remains particularly strong in fast sections. A quality difficult to fully exploit over the course of a race, since a driver cannot constantly push to the limit in the fastest corners without degrading their tires.
“The car is very good in fast corners, but it is far from good enough in slow corners. So it was very difficult to follow,” continues the current world champion.
“I can’t overdrive in the fast corners during the race. So we can’t optimize our strengths and our weaknesses become more visible.”
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“Otherwise, we would have done it already”
The bad news for McLaren is that Norris does not seem to believe in an immediate solution before qualifying. When asked if the team could make changes to fix these difficulties, his answer was particularly clear.
“No, otherwise we would have done it already.”
McLaren had indeed introduced new developments at Zandvoort following the package that allowed them to win in Hungary. But the characteristics of the Dutch track seem to expose the limits of the MCL40 even more.
A weakness already present in Hungary
Norris also recalls that these difficulties did not appear at Zandvoort. They were already noticeable at Hungaroring, despite McLaren’s victory.
“We knew in Budapest that we were very good in fast corners and rather bad in slow corners, but we still managed to win,” he emphasizes.
The difference mainly lies in the configuration of the Dutch circuit.
“Here, there are many more very, very slow corners and our problems stand out more. It is absolutely no surprise, it is exactly what we expected.”
After missing the Sprint pole by only 0.041 seconds, McLaren therefore retains some competitiveness over one lap. But over long stints, Norris expects to continue suffering against Mercedes and Ferrari, two teams that seem for now better adapted to the particular demands of Zandvoort.
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