Not much came together for the McLaren team at the Belgian Grand Prix. While Lando Norris was only able to start the race from 17th place with a grid penalty, the performance of the MCL36 over the race distance was not good enough either. It was particularly lacking on the straights, which is why the Brit got stuck in the DRS train with Alexander Albon at the head towards the end of the race.
While team boss Andreas Seidl blamed the lack of traction from turn one, Norris believes that the problem was located elsewhere: “I think we were probably one of the faster teams on the straights, but with DRS we lose a lot. For some reason we’re pretty shockingly on the road with the DRS.”
Despite Norris having DRS and slipstreaming from Lance Stroll ahead of him at the end of the race, the Brit’s best top speed was just 337.2km/h at the end of the long Kemmel straight. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo managed 345.7 km/h at times, while Yuki Tsunoda even reached 350.8 km/h in the AlphaTauri.
Norris: “We were faster than Red Bull on the straights!”
“Some cars are a lot better than others, but I think we were even faster than Red Bull on the straights yesterday. But then Red Bull opens the DRS and somehow gains another 15 km/h and is in a completely different league than many others,” puzzles Norris.
“So there’s something that maybe we’re missing from the DRS and maybe that’s why our chances of overtaking are less than everyone else’s. But on the straights we were probably some of the fastest this weekend and in the last sector we were also one of the fastest at times teams.”
Overall, however, Norris notes that McLaren wasn’t competitive either in the corners or on the straights with DRS: “Whether in slow and medium-speed corners or at high speed, nothing was a strength this weekend. We’re just a little bit in every area inferior.”
Norris: “It can’t get much worse”
At the upcoming race in Zandvoort, Norris hopes that McLaren can build on the achievements from Hungary, especially since the tracks are quite similar in terms of their characteristics: “A lot of downforce is required there, so we can hopefully reach our pace from Budapest again.”
“But you never know. Last season it was our worst track, so I hope that won’t be the case this year. Some of the problems we’ve had in previous years may not be as obvious this year, but that’s why we have other problems. It can’t get much worse than this weekend anyway.”