World champion Lando Norris says McLaren must improve across the board despite making progress since their disappointing Australian Grand Prix.
LANDO Norris has warned his McLaren team they must improve in all areas despite making progress since a disappointing season opener in Australia.
The reigning world champion finished a distant fifth in Melbourne, 51 seconds behind race winner George Russell who led a Mercedes one-two ahead of both Ferraris.
Norris had heavily criticised the new-generation Formula 1 cars with their 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power throughout the Australian weekend, calling them “probably the worst” the sport had produced.
Ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the second race of the season, the British driver struck a more optimistic note about his team’s prospects.
“It should be a little bit more simple and therefore we expect to be a bit closer,” he told reporters in Shanghai.
He added that even if the team returned to Melbourne now, they would expect to be more competitive based on what they had learned since the race.
“But at the same time we also know we have to improve in all areas, it’s not just power unit, it’s the car itself,” Norris stated.
He described the car as decent and a good starting position but emphasised the team’s desire for it to be better than its current state.
Norris at least fared better than his teammate Oscar Piastri, who crashed out of his home Australian Grand Prix before the race even began.
Piastri, who had qualified fifth fastest, hit the kerb at Turn 4 and spun into the concrete barriers on his way to the starting grid.
“It’s certainly not going to be my favourite moment of my career, but I think I still tried to learn as much as I can from the race,” said Piastri in Shanghai, where he won the grand prix last year.
The Australian driver noted there were positives to take from the weekend and pointed out he is only two points worse off than at the same stage last season, despite the embarrassing incident.
