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McLaren had a dismal start to the season with a somewhat underwhelming performance in the two Free Practice sessions in Bahrain. Confusingly though, it left both the drivers mystified about why the car was not as competitive as they expected it to be.
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Asked what was the reason behind the team's lack of pace, Lando Norris replied:
"I've got no idea. We've only been here and not other tracks, so at the moment you've just got to say it's [the] package. If it's not going to be good here, there are a lot of other tracks that are similar to Bahrain, so just as a package we've got to improve.
He added:
"We'll see what we can do tonight and approach it for tomorrow.We've got a lot of pace to find if we want to be competitive with any of the guys in the top 10."
The two McLaren drivers languished down the order in both the practice sessions, with Norris coming 16th and 11th while Ricciardo came 17th and 18th in both sessions.
The team suffered brake overheating issues during the pre-season test and the car's behaviour during the Free Practice now will only add more concerns.
Ricciardo: The McLaren just lacks overall grip
Delving deeper into the issue, Daniel Ricciardo remarked that there was an overall lack of grip from the car that was responsible for the uncompetitive laptimes.
"I think honestly, we're just lacking overall grip. The car feels okay, but obviously when you're down a little bit on grip, you do struggle a bit more and lock a wheel here or there and make a few errors."
He added:
"I'd like to think that we can definitely get a bit better, but we don't have bags of sand or anything at the moment. So yeah, we've got some pace to find."
After the pre-season test, it did appear that McLaren were going to be the fourth fastest team, well clear of the chasing midfield pack. However, after the Free Practice sessions, it appears that the team is well-entrenched in the midfield and will need to fight iagainstt with the likes of Alpine and Haas during qualifying.
