McLaren in race to 'understand upgrades' after Friday cancellations - Lando Norris

Eifel Grand Prix

McLaren in race to 'understand upgrades' after Friday cancellations - Norris

No running was possible at the Nurburgring on Friday due to heavy fog

Ewan Gale

Friday 9 October 2020 18:31

Lando Norris fears the cancellation of Friday's practice sessions will have a massive impact on McLaren who brought significant upgrades brought to the Nürburgring.

No running was possible at the Nurburgring as heavy fog meant the medical helicopters were unable to transfer to receiving hospitals in case of an accident.

Theoretically all teams and drivers are in the same situation, but Norris was quick to suggest McLaren will be on the back foot as the team needed time to properly integrate the new parts with the existing package.

"The main thing for us is we had a lot of different parts on the car this weekend," he explained.

"We need the time to understand how it helps the car, what effect it has and whether we need to change the balance for it and all these different parts, it just will make our lives difficult tomorrow in FP3.

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"We will try and understand and then take effects from that into qualifying. Maybe it is different for other teams but for us, that was really our main plan for today. It was tricky anyway today with the rain.

"It is so much harder to get a good reading of the car and make developments because it is much trickier to be on the limit of the car.

Team-mate Carlos Sainz took a more positive outlook on the scenario, believing the loss of track time will add to the spectacle on Formula 1's return to the circuit.

"I think it is going to make the weekend more challenging, more interesting and actually probably more fun for the fans. It might mean we have a more fun weekend coming up because the teams haven't had the Friday to practice," said the Spaniard.

Before you go...

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