Norris - McLaren confidence hit by Bahrain brake issues

Lando Norris has labelled McLaren's Bahrain pre-season test as "less than ideal" and warned the team was behind on "where we can say we're confident" ahead of the season opener.

The new campaign gets underway at the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend as F1 ushers in a new era, with new cars posing a challenge for teams and drivers throughout pre-season testing.

McLaren looked strong in Barcelona but struggled with brake issues in the second test as team principal Andreas Seidl suggested the team was in a "race against time" to find a fix in time for the curtain-raiser.

Summing up his three days of testing with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo testing positive for Covid-19, Norris said: “Less than ideal.

"It [wasn't] the smoothest of tests for us. It was quite limited in Bahrain.

“Barcelona was a good one, but here, we encountered quite a few more problems which limited the amount of laps by quite a huge amount.

"Especially on the long runs, the low-fuel runs and shorter runs we were able to do but not the high-fuel runs.

“We’re definitely behind from where we want to be and need to be and where we can say we’re confident in any way going into the first race."

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