Ted Kravitz spots something ‘very significant’ on Lando Norris McLaren car at British Grand Prix

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Lando Norris is singlemindedly pursuing a first win at his home Grand Prix this weekend. The McLaren driver has been either first or second at five of the last six races he’s finished, making him a firm contender.

It was at Silverstone last year where the Woking outfit announced their return to the front of the field. Norris bagged his first British GP podium having briefly got ahead of Max Verstappen at the start of the race.

Back then, McLaren were competing with Mercedes and Ferrari to be the ‘best of the rest’ behind Red Bull. Now they’re very much battling the world champions for victory each weekend.

Norris’ hopes of mounting a championship challenge are slim. He sits 81 points behind Verstappen in the standings, the equivalent of more than three race wins.

He’ll hope that picture looks very different by the time the season pauses for the summer break in three races’ time. But for McLaren, the plan may partly be to lay the foundations for 2025, when they will hope to mount a concerted challenge at the outset.

The constructors’ championship could potentially be up for grabs this year, though. McLaren have outscored Red Bull over the past five races, with Sergio Perez continuing to struggle.

Ted Kravitz intrigued by Lando Norris front-wing test at McLaren

Norris started the weekend strongly by setting the pace in FP1, nearly a tenth and a half ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. However, unlike Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, he used a set of soft tyres to do so.

Speaking in the pitlane at the start of the session, Sky Sports F1 analyst Ted Kravitz shared a ‘very significant’ test he’d spotted. Norris was running a sizeable aero rake on the front of his car to gather some data.

He was also sporting the team’s old rear wing, rather than the newer model they had used in Austria. According to Kravitz, this suggests that the aerodynamicists aren’t yet fully satisfied.

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There was a risk that Norris would be short of spare parts for this race, the final leg of a tripleheader, after his crash with Verstappen in Austria. But this test was unrelated to those concerns.

“McLaren are preparing for a very significant aero test on their front wing,” Kravitz said. “They clearly haven’t got all the answers they wanted from its debut in Austria just a few days ago. Look at the size of that aero rake. That’s the old one.”

Martin Brundle ‘surprised’ by what Norris said about Max Verstappen

Norris will be more motivated than ever this weekend. Not only is it his home Grand Prix, but he was also denied a potential victory last weekend after the lap 64 incident.

And to add to the sense of injustice, Verstappen was able to extend his championship lead. Despite receiving a 10-second penalty, he finished fifth to bolt another 10 points onto his advantage.

Still, Norris has adopted a conciliatory tone in his media duties thus far. He rowed back on his initial demand for the Red Bull driver to apologise, saying it wasn’t necessary.

Martin Brundle is ‘surprised’ that he’s taken this stance. By doing so, he feels that he’s handed Verstappen a ‘psychological’ victory in their developing rivalry.