Lando Norris explains his struggles behind the wheel of his McLaren

Lando Norris has had a mixed start to the season. Winner in Melbourne, the opening round of the championship, the Briton then made a series of mistakes, taking the lead in the drivers' standings away from him, which his teammate had snatched. Oscar piastri.

Beyond his misadventures – like his poor qualifying in Bahrain or his accident in Q3 in Jeddah – the most worrying thing about the driver McLaren is the crestfallen expression he has displayed over the last two race weekends. I need a break ", he admitted to Canal+ while expressing his satisfaction at being able to enjoy a clean weekend between Saudi Arabia and the Miami Grand Prix on May 4.

So, during an exclusive interview with the The Race F1 podcast, the British pilot looked back on this up-and-down start to 2025 and the reasons why he is encountering these difficulties.

« This year it's all about the little things and honestly it's very hard to put it into simple terms., confided Lando Norris. I have the feeling that with this car (the MCL39. Editor’s note), Things don't happen as naturally as they did last year, and when you have to drive in a slightly less natural way – even if you try to adapt to other ways of driving – as soon as you have to think in a slightly different way, it can cost you two hundredths, three hundredths, four hundredths. When you make those kinds of compromises, it makes the difference between pole position or third position. »

So, although he has the best car of the plateau, Lando Norris is not 100% at the wheel of the MCL39: " I can't get the most out of the car as I would like, he explained. It's complicated, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that people have no idea about and don't see. Especially when you're facing Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, George Russell or Charles Leclerc : these are all guys who are also trying to push their car to the limit. You can't afford to let one, two or three hundredths of a second slip by. So you have to push the limits, and to do that, you have to feel every step: braking, corner entry and exit. And as soon as there's a slight lag, things don't react as expected and you can't predict understeer or oversteer, you have to think, and as soon as you have to think consciously, you lose hundredths or thousandths of a second. »

Norris less confident than in 2024

During the fourth round of the season, on the Sakhir circuit, Lando Norris started sixth after a failed qualifying session. On pole, Oscar Piastri led the race from start to finish as the McLaren's pace was so much higher than that of the other single-seaters. So, despite his perfectible Saturday, Lando Norris could (should?) have finished second but due to a five-second penalty and numerous clumsiness (wheel locks, over-optimistic overtaking), the #4 McLaren only made it to the last step of the podium, behind the Mercedes George Russell. The reason for this performance was the Glastonbury native's lack of complete and absolute confidence in the car.

« The more difficult it is, the more precision you need. The more precision you need, the more you need to feel on top of your game behind the wheel of the car., explained Lando Norris. This is an area I felt very good at at the end of last season and that I had mastered perfectly. But I'm not as efficient as I was at the end of last year, and so I'm paying the price, either through big mistakes, or through blockages, or other things: I'm not able to be as precise as I should be, and that's costing me dearly. »

Before setting up camp in Miami for the sixth round of the season on May 4, Lando Norris is in second place in the championship with 89 points – 10 points behind current leader Oscar Piastri. It's been a great year but a tough start to the season, recognizes number 4. Things are not going as smoothly as I would like. » Last year, the Englishman won in Florida, his first victory in Formula 1. " It's nice to come back to a track where I performed well and have good memories of it."

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