The Briton admits that the 1.5-second gap to the leaders produces "a knife in the heart". The problems with the MCL40's floor weighed down FP1 and forced the use of zip ties as a provisional solution, Marshall asks for patience with the upgrades.
Lando Norris does not hide his frustration: the British McLaren driver has described as "a knife in the heart" the 1.5-second gap that separates his team from the leaders after the first day of practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a metaphor that perfectly summarizes the disappointment of a team that arrived in Baku with the hope of confirming its progress but that has found a much darker panorama than expected.
"We are light years away, we are up there, let's say, relatively... We are in the position we expected, but 1.5 seconds off the pace, it's quite pitiful" Norris declared after the second free practice session. The Briton who was forced to abort a faster lap at the end of FP2 was questioned about how much of that gap can be closed during the night: "I have no idea, we'll see what work we can do. The car didn't feel that bad so it's a small knife in the heart when you see how far away you are" he added.
The start of the weekend in Baku was especially complicated for McLaren. During FP1 the team detected problems in the floor of its updated MCL40, which forced Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri to lose time on track while the mechanics worked on a solution, for FP2, the team resorted to a provisional measure: zip ties to hold the damaged piece, although both drivers were able to complete more laps the gap with the leader, George Russell, remained around 1.5 seconds.
Norris was clear about his priorities: "I don't care how much confidence I have in the car, I only care about the pace and we are not very fast, I don't care. I drive the car they give me, I just want it to be fast and it isn't at the moment, we'll see what we can change for tomorrow", he sentenced. The Briton who arrived in Baku after two consecutive victories in Hungary and the Netherlands, now faces a reality much harder than he expected.
Rob Marshall, technical director and chief designer of McLaren, explained what happened in the first session: "We put a lot of new pieces on the car today" he noted, referring to the modifications in the sidepods, the engine cover, the floor, the diffuser and the rear suspension: "A lot of learning, some clichés... but obviously you put your package on and you need to learn to adjust it, I don't think we are there yet", he admitted.
Marshall was optimistic about the potential of the upgrades: "I think the car seems to be doing what we want it to do, the aerodynamic map seems quite satisfactory, it's just a matter of adjusting the performance now. It's early, the first session was a bit interrupted but we'll see how we do tomorrow" he added.
About the floor problem, he downplayed it: "It was a minor problem, we detected a crack in a piece and we added those zip ties to mitigate it to prevent it from getting worse while we work on a proper solution. We could have left it but we didn't want to because we are short on parts".
McLaren faces the rest of the weekend with the need to find quick answers, the 1.5-second gap is too big to aspire to victory and Norris knows it.
The team will have to work against the clock to adjust the MCL40's setup and make the most of the remaining sessions, the season is reaching its decisive phase and McLaren cannot afford another lost weekend.
