McLaren’s Lando Norris is facing a growing issue with his race starts, as his opening lap in last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix demonstrated, prompting the team to work with the Briton to address the problem.
From pole position in Barcelona last month, Norris lost out to George Russell, who swept around him into Turn 1, relegating him to third for the opening stint and diminishing his chances of victory.
Similarly, in Hungary, Norris was outpaced by his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri into Turn 1, a move that ultimately determined the race winner.
At Spa last weekend, Norris misjudged his start once again, when a messy exit from the La Source hairpin saw him run wide and drop to seventh, a “stupid mistake” as the McLaren charger called it that undermined his race from the outset.
Norris’ worrying habit of losing positions on the opening lap has increasingly become a thorn in the side of McLaren as it fights to reduce its gap to Red Bull in the Constructors’ championship, and it has compelled the team to work with its driver to tackle the costly issue.
“First of all, these kinds of situations, they’re always very, very marginal,” Stella said after last Sunday’s race in Spa, quoted by Motorsport Week.
“I think Lando got a little distracted from what was happening on the inside and ran out of track. It’s marginal things, it just requires little adjustments here and there.
“Certainly, we work with Lando like we work with Oscar to try and see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better to either be more prepared or to use better of our abilities and talents.
“So, I think it doesn’t necessarily change our attitude, but definitely gives us some elements to analyse as to how some of these missed opportunities manifest themselves.
“For Lando, for instance, it looks like there’s statistically some opportunities that tend to happen in the early stages of the race.”
However, Stella was quick to point out that the team is still investigating whether this is a recurring problem or simply a series of unfortunate incidents.
“We need to check whether this is early stages of the race for a reason or it’s just random,” he said.
“But like any other athlete or any other driver, I think Lando himself, with the support of the team, will have to think, what can I do better to make sure we capitalise on the good work we are doing?
“I think he was in a good starting position still, but then once we lost the position at the start with this low deck and difficult overtaking, we definitely made our life difficult.”
©McLaren
The pressure is now on Norris to address the issue and improve his starts. With the championship battle heating up, every position lost on the opening lap could prove costly in the long run.
McLaren will be hoping that they can find a solution to this problem before it derails their title ambitions.
Norris suggested that F1’s upcoming summer break will provide a much-needed opportunity for a rest.
“We all need it, but I think I just need it to reset,” he said at Spa.
“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three or four races, just because of stupid stuff. Mistakes and bad starts. Turn 1 now.
“I’ve given up a lot of points, so hopefully I can come back stronger.”
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