Lando Norris: “Anything positive? The end of the race! »

The defeated look, the look in the socks, the timid tone. The body language that Lando Norris at the finish of the Bahrain Grand Prix said a lot about the morale of the troops at McLaren, while the young driver finished in a difficult fifteenth place at the wheel of his new car. It is true that the weekend did not go as planned for the British team, plagued by difficulties in almost all sectors. The performance of Daniel Ricciardo (14th), absent from the second part of winter testing last week, did not reassure McLaren's most loyal followers either. And the problems are likely to persist for a little while…

“Everything was difficult”

Fourteenth and fifteenth at the finish, zero points on the clock obviously. In Bahrain, we surely witnessed McLaren's worst start to a season in many years – poke the Honda era. Despite having made constant progress over the past four years, the British team is not starting the new season under the best auspices. It's not Lando Norris who will say the opposite, he who appeared very disappointed on arrival.

“It was a very long race, confesses the young British pilot. The car is complicated to understand, it's so easy to make mistakes, wheel locks or lose control. We did what we could, but we must work even harder in the coming weeks and months. »

THE DEBATE OF THE WEEK: Is McLaren in for a year in hell?

Facing many difficulties during winter testing, almost unable to complete a long stint without noticing the overheating of its brakes, McLaren is in a form of continuity with this first race weekend. Insufficient. Almost mediocre. Starting from thirteenth position on the starting grid, Lando Norris managed to finish fifteenth, despite the retirements of three drivers – gasly, Verstappen and Pérez – all ahead of him at the start, of course.

“Something positive?” The end of the race. I don't know, I haven't had time to think about it yet. Everything was difficult honestly. Our race pace, tire management. It's hard when you're at the back of the pack, because you want to move forward, increase the pace, but at the same time when your car is not performing as well, you want to keep tire capital more than the others. This is a very delicate position we find ourselves in. We have a lot of work to do, and we continue to look for answers. »

“We will already have the opportunity to make some changes for next week (Editor's note: this week, for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix). But frankly, no idea what it will be like next Sunday. It could be better. Or worse. We really do not know. We will review everything, be prepared as best as possible for the next Grand Prix. We can make some adjustments, it's a new week, a new Grand Prix. The circuit is different, with medium and fast speed curves, so perhaps that could suit us a little better. But actually, I don't really think so. »

If the team has very little time to address all its problems before the next race, the first major modifications should not take place before Imola, the fourth Grand Prix on the calendar, the first in Europe. Like most stables. The distances that are too great to cover for Saudi Arabia or Melbourne prevent certain teams from making all the planned modifications. McLaren should still eat its black bread for a few races. At least…