McLaren grows, but Norris suffers
While McLaren takes the Friday headlines by commanding the second free practice session in Japan, on the Suzuka circuit Lando Norris loses half an hour in the pits due to a hydraulic problem on the MCL40 (discovered already in FP1 but resolved late). A trouble that costs him laps and performance, because the world champion remains half a second behind and cannot test the race pace in the practice session that takes place in conditions more similar to those of the GP.
Norris, despite third place in the first practice session, considers Friday at Suzuka a bad day and wants to close the gap that separates him from teammate Oscar Piastri.
Norris’s words
“It was a difficult day, we weren’t able to do the laps we needed“, this is the comment from #1. “Most of the morning was dedicated to aerodynamic work, the FP1 laps, therefore, were not really representative. On a track like this, you need the laps to build confidence and fine-tune the setup, and at the moment I’m two or three steps behind considering I haven’t tested the long runs“.
“That said, in the end we managed to put together some elements and we learned something, even if not as much as we would have liked“, he added. “We will take advantage of the night to recharge, analyze the data at our disposal and try to correct some aspects, so that we can run a significant number of laps“.
Read more At Suzuka McLaren begins to understand the engine. Ferrari must focus on pace
