Lando Norris outlines ‘main thing’ after first impression of new McLaren F1 car

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Lando Norris has outlined the ‘main thing’ the Briton learned from his first chance to drive the new McLaren MCL38 car for the 2024 Formula 1 season at its shakedown.

The Woking team hit Silverstone on Wednesday to put the first miles on their latest machine ahead of pre-season testing. Formula 1 has only scheduled one, three-day test in Bahrain for February 21-23 this year. The racing then starts at the track with the Bahrain GP on March 2.

Bahrain was not a happy hunting ground for McLaren in 2023 as Norris and Oscar Piastri had a race to forget. Norris visited the pit lane six times in the 57-lap event to top up his air tank after a pneumatic leak. Piastri retired on his F1 debut after 13 laps with an electronics issue.

McLaren are ‘confident’ the MCL38 will ‘hit the ground running’

Team principal Andrea Stella believes McLaren did a ‘good job’ developing the MCL38 during the winter for Norris and Piastri. The Papaya squad are also ‘confident’ that they can ‘hit the ground running’ in Sakhir. But they did not address ‘all’ of their areas to improve the MCL60.

Norris showed what the MCL60 could achieve once McLaren brought their first major set of upgrades to the Austrian GP. He sealed P4 at the Red Bull Ring before taking second spot at the British GP. Only Max Verstappen (346) outscored Norris (181) from Silverstone onward.

McLaren’s development allowed Norris to seal further silverware, with second-place finishes in Hungary, Singapore, Japan, the United States and Sao Paulo and also third in Qatar. The Papaya team also saw Piastri get third in Japan and second in Qatar, even winning the Sprint.

Lando Norris opens up on his first impression of the MCL38 F1 car

Norris and Piastri will now hope the MCL38 allows McLaren to return to the top step of the podium in 2024. The Woking outfit have only won one Grand Prix since the 2012 campaign with Daniel Ricciardo’s victory at the 2021 Italian GP. Norris finished the Monza event in P2.

Grand Prix glory – and also Sprint success – has still so far escaped Norris since his debut in 2019 with McLaren. The 24-year-old will hope to change that in 2024. But the ‘main thing’ Norris learned from his first taste of the MCL38 was how he immediately felt at ease in it.

He told BBC Sport: “The main thing is I jumped in and felt very comfortable straight away.”