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Lando Norris reckons a multitude of factors, including track conditions, layout and surface, played a critical role in McLaren's poor show in Miami last Sunday.
The team had come to Miami off two impressive points finishes in Baku and Australia. Lando Norris scored points in both races, while Oscar Piastri scored points in Australia.
The team hoped to build on their momentum in Miami. They started impressively on Friday, but that form didn't spill over into Saturday. The car suffered a major drop in form, and both Norris and Piastri were out in Q1, enduring a 'pointless' weekend.
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Norris explained why McLaren flopped at Miami:
“The track doesn’t suit us, longer corners don’t suit us; the temperature doesn’t suit us; track surface doesn’t suit us. There are many different aspects of it all.
"No one was slow either this weekend. Maybe the AlphaTauris were the only other slow car. Everyone else was pretty quick. The Alfa Romeos were mega fast. Haas were mega fast. The Alpines were way quicker."
He added:
“I wouldn’t say we were that much different to where we have been. It’s just everything else was a big step forward, and a lot of this is just down to car characteristic, in my opinion.”
Lando Norris' grim outlook for McLaren upgrades
Norris was not too upbeat about the upgrades expected to be brought by McLaren in the upcoming races.
The team is expected to bring a major upgrade in the coming races to make the car more competitive. However, Norris is not too excited and does not think that the upgrades would be game-changing.
Talking about the upgrades, the McLaren driver said that the team could improve the package by a few tenths but won't change the overall car:
“It’s optimised, and everything works as it should. But all the other problems we have on days like today only make the difficulties even greater. It helps with a few tenths here, and there, but it won’t change the car.”
Lando Norris has scored points in only two of fives races this season. The team is going through one of their worst starts to the season, so the young driver might be starting to feel the pressure of the underperforming car.
