McLaren reveal cost of Lando Norris Spa-Francorchamps crash damage

Lando Norris following his Belgian GP qualifying crash — Photo: © LAT Images

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McLaren reveal cost of Norris Spa-Francorchamps crash damage

Norris suffered a heavy shunt in wet qualifying

Ian Parkes

Friday 3 September 2021 11:40

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has revealed the cost of Lando Norris' crash at Spa Francorchamps left the team with a "several hundred thousand pounds" repair bill.

In torrential rain at the Belgian Grand Prix venue, Norris was able to walk away from a smash in qualifying that saw him hurtle into a tyre barrier after losing control of his car out of the compression through Eau Rouge.

Remarkably, both the chassis and power unit survived, but the list of replacement parts was considerable, which included a new gearbox.

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Asked to put a cost on the crash, Seidl said: "I would say several hundred thousand pounds in the end, collectively.

"But thanks to the preparation beforehand, from these crashes, and the great work back home in the factory in production in the last weeks, we are still in a healthy position when it comes to spare parts as well."

The figure still falls short of the £1.5million damage sustained by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen from his crash at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix.

McLaren able to re-use Norris PU

Seidl has confirmed all checks have now been completed on the power unit involved in the accident, and the team will be able to re-use it later this season.

The system had been newly fitted for the weekend, leaving the team forced to turn to the second PU for the 'race'.

"It's still open when to use it again," added Seidl.

"The power unit has been checked in detail and looks to be okay, and will be used at one of the next race weekends.

"Everything so far looks good, but as always, in the end, you only get the final green light once you have reinstalled the unit again and go back on track.

"But with everything our colleagues from HPP have checked, we don't expect any issues."

Appreciably, Seidl has expressed relief the power unit did survive and it can be used again.

"For sure," said Seidl. "We were lucky, in terms of the angle of the initial impact, that it was not that bad.

"That's why we could keep the monocoque and also the damage to the power unit was not as bad as it looked when the crash happened.

"That's also the reason why Lando could walk away in the end without any serious issues."