Lando Norris positive McLaren has made "small step forward"

Australian Grand Prix

Norris positive McLaren has made "small step forward"

British driver has "good feeling" about McLaren improvement

Will Gray

Friday 8 April 2022 14:20

Lando Norris enjoyed his "best Friday" of the season and is positive McLaren has made a "small step forward" after practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Woking-based team finished fourth in the championship last season and had secured a first win since 2012 in Italy but F1's regulation changes this season have seen McLaren drop down the order.

Norris’ seventh in Saudi Arabia is the team’s only points-scoring finish in the two opening races but after the first day of running in Melbourne, Norris said: “It was probably our best Friday so far, so I am hoping it can continue into tomorrow.

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“We have a good feeling. I think we made a few changes and we’ve learned a bit this weekend already [and] from the previous weekends that we have implemented and I think it is working reasonably well.

“We’ve taken a small step forward. So it’s a good start and hopefully, over tonight we can continue that into tomorrow and make further improvements.”

Norris seeking long run improvement

Norris qualified only 13th and finished 15th at the opening race of the season in Bahrain, with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo failing to make the cut in Q1 and ending up one place ahead in 14th.

The pair were 11th and 12th on the grid in Saudi Arabia but Ricciardo failed to finish and Norris finished almost a minute behind winner Max Verstappen.

The British driver believes the team is in a good place for qualifying but still needs to improve its race performance and added: “I think we have a bit more work to do in the long run. I am a bit more confident in the short run.

“I think a bit of it is our car limitation and a bit of that is exposing a bit more in the high fuel base, so I think we have a bit to understand there and maybe a few improvements to make.”