“A bit on the backfoot” » FirstSportz

The Canadian Grand Prix is ​​back after two seasons without him. Last time out in Montreal, Lando Norris retired mid-race after his right rear suspension broke as a result of overheated tires burning through the suspension. That was of course the season in which he had made his Formula 1 debut.

Once again, Lando Norris is slightly behind. His McLaren MCL36 had some issues which meant he was only able to complete 17 laps during the session – quite a few fewer than everyone else. He was able to start FP2 without any major problems – where he finished 8 tenths behind the leading car, Max Verstappen. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo moved up just below him to 9th place.

Perhaps surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly were all ahead of him. McLaren is fourth in the championship – 22 points ahead of Alpine, but there’s a very good chance other teams in Montreal have more pace than them. As GPFans reports, Norris wasn’t particularly optimistic about the weekend.

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Lando Norris feels he has to catch up this weekend

Speaking of Friday, Lando Norris didn’t think it was particularly good. That may change as the weekend progresses, but Norris felt he was behind at the moment. He said:

“It’s difficult. It’s not an easy track with the bumps and bad grip because it’s a street circuit that I don’t think is ever used until a Formula 1 race.”

He felt McLaren had some improvements but they still looked miles away from the pace of the teams they are likely to compete with this weekend.

“Difficult but I think we’ve found some minor things with the car, we’ve made some good improvements but we… we’re not looking great pace wise either, Aston [Martin] were way ahead of us.”

Aston Martin certainly looked pretty strong, with Sebastian Vettel just around 0.090 off Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. After a difficult season for the German, the fact that the pace looks strong this weekend and also considering he’s picked up points in the last two races, things are certainly looking a lot better for Vettel now. Regarding this advance, Norris said:

“They’ve definitely made a step up in the past few weeks and are looking a lot more competitive now. So lost a bit of running in FP1 in the middle so a bit on the backfoot with the long distance stuff and need to catch up but not in a bad place.

Overall, Norris felt the weekend didn’t look particularly strong, but it was satisfying. He would hope for an improvement today and will certainly hope the weekend ends better than his last one in Montreal.

also read: “I don’t think there’s anything to complain about,” says Lando Norris with his car after the recent porpoise incidents

also read: “Our idea was to keep Esteban Ocon in check,” explains Andreas Seidl, explaining the team order to Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris