Lando Norris F1 News: Secret behind breaking McLaren CURSE revealed

Lando Norris, McLaren, Singapore, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Superstars

Secret behind breaking Norris CURSE revealed

Lando Norris claimed a stunning victory in Singapore

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 30 September 2024 12:58

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has revealed a key change in Lando Norris' skill set that allowed the Brit to break a Formula 1 curse.

Norris has excelled throughout 2024, claiming his first three victories in the sport, and mounting a championship challenge to three-time champion Max Verstappen.

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The Brit sits 52 points behind Verstappen with six races left, but 2024 will already go down as a memorable year for the 24-year-old.

Norris came into the season having achieved seven second-placed finishes without winning a single race, and was under pressure to do so once it became clear that McLaren's MCL38 was one of the best two cars on the grid.

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Lando Norris won the Singapore Grand Prix

Norris maximising McLaren performance

The Woking-based outfit have since gone on to replace Red Bull at the top of the constructors' standings thanks to the performances of Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri.

However, Norris' drivers' title bid against Verstappen has fallen a little flat, with the Brit having scored exactly the same amount of points as the Dutchman in the last 12 races, despite Verstappen clearly having inferior machinery.

This failure to eat into the championship lead has led to a situation where Norris will need to outscore Verstappen by over 8.5 points in the last six events of the season, a tall order.

Part of Norris' difficulties have come through not being able to capitalise on a good qualifying performance, often being criticised for poor starts to races. Until the Singapore Grand Prix, the Brit had taken five career pole positions (including four in 2024) without converting any into race victories.

In Singapore, Norris finally managed to banish that statistic, leading every lap on his way to a victory by over 20 seconds.

Now, Stella has revealed the key to breaking this curse, and how Norris will seek to maximise his lap one performance for the rest of the season.

"I don't disagree that at face value starts and overall approach to the first corner of first lap might have looked like an opportunity for Lando," Stella said after the race at Marina Bay Street Circuit.

"But, having done a little bit of analysis as a group including Lando, we have gone through the season every single start and every single first lap.

"And in fairness, we haven't found that even in cases in which Lando started in pole position and he was not P1 at the end of first lap, he had kind of given up very much in terms of performance.

"Definitely we have been focusing on the execution of the start and preparation of the tyres, Lando himself, even the time we focus on start preparation during a weekend is now more concentrated," he continued.

"You gain confidence. And you gain familiarity with starting from pole position, and understanding, even in terms of territorial defence, what you need to do, even to dissuade people for going [for the lead].

"So, I think this is part of the journey, and it's just good that we are now having to face this kind of opportunity."

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Max Verstappen McLaren Lando Norris Andrea Stella DRS