Norris Bemoans 'Not Perfect' Pre-Season Testing With 'Big Gap' To Red Bull

Monday, 26 February 2024 at 07:30

Lando Norris reflected on the 2024 F1 pre-season testing after his team didn't really have a perfect three-day stay in Bahrain.

Ahead of the new season, all teams got to test their new challengers for the 2024 season, and so did McLaren, who brought their MCL38 to the Bahrain International Circuit.

The car should, naturally, be faster than last year's car. However, they couldn't fully discover the potential and limitations of the car during the pre-season testing, as they struggled with multiple problems.

Talking about the testing, Norris called it "not a perfect few days" as things could have went much smoother for the team, but they still managed to complete a decent amount of laps.

“"I think it’s been a… not a perfect few days, we’ve definitely had our fair share of issues, which is not exactly what we would like, but better now than [at the Grand Prix] next week!"”

However, as the British driver highlighted, it's still better for the team to experience some difficulties during the testing rather than during the first race of the season.

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The Bahrain Grand Prix runs between February 29th and March 2nd, and that's when Norris would like to be at 100%. Despite some struggles during the testing at the Bahrain International testing, the 24-year-old was happy about the car.

There are still improvements that the British team could make since they have a gap, like everyone else, to Red Bull, but as last season showed, that gap is becoming smaller.

“"I’m feeling good, the car has definitely felt [like] an improvement in some areas, and in other areas still plenty to improve. A positive few days, but still a big gap to some of the guys ahead, so that’s a lot of work we still need to do over the next week or so to try and close that down already."”

However, if Norris wants to compete for race wins, or possibly a Championship, that gap would need to disappear completely, and he'll find out just how close they are to that in Bahrain this week.