McLaren’s expectations heading into the British Grand Prix were never particularly high with its less aerodynamically efficient MCL40. The Woking outfit is lagging on drag and energy management compared to its front running rivals – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – and also isn’t yet fitting the new Mercedes power unit that the Silver Arrows has introduced for itself and customer outfits.
So Silverstone was already outlined as quite a bogey track for the reigning constructors’ champion and it came as no surprise when McLaren was far from the fight in opening practice: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were respectively 0.887s and 1.028s off Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark in fifth and seventh. Things didn’t drastically improve in sprint qualifying either, as Norris took sixth with Piastri in seventh, though closer to the seven-time world champion’s pole time with a three tenths deficit.
What obviously didn’t help matters, however, was Norris suffering from front brake duct damage, which led to a nose cone change for the reigning world champion that very much put him on the back foot heading into SQ3.
“It was quite a lot more than I thought, because only in the final round we managed to fix it,” said Norris. “The guys did a good job on fixing it for the final run, but the car was just completely different and way better again.
“So it’s just, If I’m pretty shocking for most of it, and just lucky that we managed to fix it because it felt like a completely different car. But by the time I got the feeling for the final lap, I felt like I could have just pushed way more.
“So a little bit unfortunate today, but I think also the pace was still there or there abouts.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Although the damage would have affected his preparation heading into the final session, the McLaren driver still ended up in the place that was largely expected of him. It means he will share the third row with Mercedes title hopeful George Russell, who Norris expects to be too strong for him in Saturday’s shortened race.
He is instead looking at Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who starts third, as the driver he can potentially fight with as dominant outfit Mercedes and nearest challenger Ferrari should have too much pace.
“Maybe the Red Bull we can potentially compete against, but the Mercedes of George is clearly just a lot quicker,” said Norris, with Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli in second and the sister Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in fourth.
“So, to fight a much quicker car like that is going to be difficult, but you never know. I thought happier at the end, I just need to understand a few things and see what we can improve into tomorrow.”
Piastri held a similar feeling of being underwhelmed after sprint qualifying, saying he “more or less” finished where he expected to. That’s particularly disappointing for the 25-year-old, who sits fourth in the championship, because he was left with the feeling of having maximised his result.
“After practice we looked pretty slow,” said Piastri, who shares the fourth row with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar. “So it’s about where we thought we’d be. I think, to be honest, probably closer to that next pack behind Kimi and Lewis. So yeah, a tricky day to be honest.
“I felt like I’ve really been on it today and not had the pace, So it’s a bit of a shame, but we’ll try again tomorrow.”
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