Norris tempers expectations despite McLaren's dominant practice pace in Bahrain
Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool
Lando Norris advises restraint despite McLaren's standout performance during the practice sessions for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. McLaren topped both of Friday's sessions, with Norris leading the first practice and teammate Oscar Piastri leading a 1-2 finish in the evening session, where the papaya cars were around half a second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Reflecting on a day that seemingly belonged to McLaren, Norris described it as "horrendous" due to the struggles with tyre degradation in warmer conditions compared to February's pre-season test. "A difficult day, just re-adapting back to the reality of Bahrain, the difficulties of Bahrain, which make it tough," Norris said. "It will make it exciting on Sunday because the degradation is incredible today compared to the test."
Despite leading the timesheets, Norris downplayed their performance, emphasizing the unpredictable conditions. "It’s kind of weird today, because everything feels dreadful but I think relatively our pace was still in a reasonable place. I think a reasonable Friday," he remarked. He attributed the challenges to the adverse temperature and wind conditions rather than set-up issues, stating, "It is what it is; it’s the same challenge for everyone."
Norris also noted that rivals like Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari have yet to show their full capabilities, suggesting they will step up as Qualifying approaches. "I just don’t think they turned up," he stated. "Everyone just looks at the timesheets, they have no idea about the information on who turns up, who doesn’t… it’s like three-and-a-half, four-tenths around here, so that puts us back in the same position as the Mercedes."
Oscar Piastri echoed Norris's sentiments, emphasizing the need for McLaren to focus on both Qualifying and race performance given the challenging conditions. "I’m pretty happy, to be honest," Piastri commented. "The car felt like it was in a good place. FP1 was a very different story! I’m glad that everything came together a bit more. I think the one-lap pace looked strong and the longer running looked reasonable as well."
When asked about the gap to the rest of the field, Piastri admitted some surprise but remained cautious. "Yes and no. I think for it to be quite that big was a bit of a surprise, but I think the others will find a bit more tomorrow – I think it will be pretty close," he noted. He also highlighted the importance of having a strong race car, stating, "Qualifying here is still going to be important, but I think we need to make sure we’ve got a good race car as well."
As the weekend progresses, all eyes will be on whether McLaren can maintain their edge or if the expected competition will close the gap.
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