McLaren goes to the bedside of his pilot. In Bahrain, Lando Norris did not know his best weekend: despite a very efficient MCL39 on the Sakhir circuit-with pole position and the victory while mastering Oscar Piastri-the Briton suffered with his mount, whether in qualifying or in race.
On Saturday, when he was legitimately expected at the top of the poster, the 25 -year -old pilot disappointed with a 6th place on the grid. The next day, English accumulated errors, sometimes small, sometimes coarse as on the starting grid, where it strangely exceeded its location before the extinction of the lights. If he has managed to go back to 3rd place, hardly going beyond Ferrari, Lando Norris failed to get rid of George Russell, yet handicapped by many problems on his Mercedes.
After the race, the British, disappointed, could only see his mistakes and his defeat against Oscar Piastri. “I qualified 6th on Saturday, which is frankly bad, so how could I be happy?” It doesn’t make sense, he launched at a press conference. Of course, I am a little more happy to have returned to 3rd place. I took a good start and 2nd place was the best possible result [dimanche]so we should have had it. But we did not have it, I did not have it, because of a few errors. So I have shared feelings. I think the rhythm was good, the car is clearly incredible, as Oscar proved, but I made too many mistakes. »»
« Others could have said that the problem was elsewhere “
A severe and even fairly rare self-criticism from a Formula 1 pilot. A mentality appreciates its team director, Andrea Stella. “It’s quite unique to see how open it is, underlines the Italian leader. He is very critical of himself. Other champions, in the past, could have said that the problem was elsewhere. It is an important thing that I admire with Lando, and which makes me privileged and lucky as a team director, that he takes the blame and assumes to be guilty. »»
“He assumes his responsibility and absolved the team entirely by saying: ‘It’s me, not the team’. Which is completely inaccurate, specifies the main team of McLaren. We have done things that made Lando’s life less easy. We know what it is technically. Lando adapts to this situation. We work together to solve the problem. Other pilots, as soon as there is a problem, say ‘Ah, is the team’, which is not its case. Lando does not do that. »»
Since the start of the season, Lando Norris has suffered with a capricious rear train, which he has struggled to tame. On the other hand, Oscar Piastri seems to have better accommodated MCL39, and even if the Briton is still at the top of the championship after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Australian seems to have taken the psychological ascendant on his teammate. For Andrea Stella, this is just a matter of time before Lando Norris feels comfortable aboard the Orange single -seater.
“We understand what it is, it will require a little adaptation from Lando himself and some adaptations from the team, but I think that understanding is good and we are very optimistic about the resolution of this problem, he assures. We know there are certain things that we can improve so that Lando is more comfortable in the car. »»
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