An ambitious but rewarded program for McLaren and Sainz

With the 4th time of free practice 2, McLaren et Carlos Sainz can smile at the end of the first day of the Canadian Grand Prix. The Spanish driver certainly took advantage of the errors of Lewis Hamilton et Max Verstappen, both made mistakes, to move up the hierarchy, but the Woking clan can be satisfied.

The English team has indeed set about testing a number of parts on its car, with a substantial program to be carried out on track this Friday on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.

“The plan was ambitious, comments Sainz. There were a lot of exit and reentry laps, a lot of testing for the aerodynamicists, a lot of components removed and put back, and the search for the right compromise. In this sense, I think we are working in the right direction and it is good to have new parts to try in search of performance. »

Performances which seem in part to have been found, with this fourth time in EL2 less than four tenths of the Ferrari peak of Charles Leclerc. However, it remains to be confirmed tomorrow in EL3, but especially in qualifying.
 
And McLaren also hopes to see Lando Norris return to the same tempo as his teammate. The Briton admitted to having had difficulty on this track that he was discovering, but knows that the Woking car seems at ease.

“There is potential,” confirms Norris. Carlos extracts a lot more performance from the car than I do. There's a rhythm, but I'm not doing a good job. I will try to improve tomorrow. »

In fact, seeing a McLaren reach Q3 tomorrow in qualifying does not seem impossible. It's up to Sainz and Norris to find the limit to aim for this objective, but watch out for the Canadian walls, which called both Hamilton and Verstappen to order this Friday.