Norris expects more McLaren ‘pain’ but hopes Bahrain ‘as bad as it gets’

Lando Norris admits McLaren face a period of “pain” as they solve the problems with their 2022 Formula 1 car.

The Woking-based team was already on the back foot after testing, where they discovered brake cooling problems at the front of the MCL36.

But when the rest of the grid unleashed their performance in the Bahrain season-opener, McLaren also found themselves well down the pecking order with both drivers running at the back of the field for much of the first Grand Prix.

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The belief is the team simply isn’t creating the downforce that others are, which may actually explain the lack of porpoising, something McLaren was initially praised for after the first pre-season test.

And looking ahead, Norris isn’t expecting any major improvements any time soon.

“I’m expecting pain, and I think everyone needs to know there probably will be a bit of pain,” he was quoted by ESPN.

“As McLaren and myself we expect a lot more, but it’s not what we have at the minute. We have to get used to it – we’ve been in this position a few years ago, but we have to remain optimistic the team and everyone back at MTC can figure things out and we can get back on track.

“I’m hoping this is as bad as it gets – might not be, could be,” he conceded. “There’s a lot of time. We still have a whole season of development and figuring things out.

“Of course, over the last few seasons there has been a lot of expectation from us within the team but also everyone else watching and we just haven’t got it right at the minute.

“We are a long, long way off – not a little bit, a long way.”

McLaren has the chance to immediately respond at the Saudi Arabian GP, and Norris is urging his team to give it their all. 

“We’re going into this weekend with our heads held high,” said the Briton.

“Bahrain was a tough one, but we’ll keep moving forward as a team and take everything we’ve learned from last weekend to make this one the best we can.

“I trust the team both here and back at the factory and I know they’re working day and night to make us stronger for this weekend.

“We know what we’re capable of achieving so we’ll give it our all and leave nothing on the table in Saudi Arabia.”

As for teammate Daniel Ricciardo, he was happy to get some good mileage under his belt after missing the second pre-season test with Covid-19 but echoed Norris on McLaren’s current plight.

“I’m glad we got the race distance in, especially for me, the first one I’ve done all year.

“[It was good] to learn the car more, [give] feedback to the team, some interesting things to feel, and some places where I felt the car was good, but overall obviously we still have I think a few more weaknesses than strengths, so [we will] try and give that info to the team and assist them as much as possible now.

“We’d love to be up on the podium here at race one but we’re obviously a long way from that, but the only way to improve it is to work together and address as much as we can in the most efficient way possible.”