Lando Norris explains why he is taking a new PU in Jeddah: "The other one is finished already"

Lando Norris has disclosed that McLaren's decision to install a new Power Unit (PU) ahead of the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a necessary move and not a precautionary one.

Ahead of the race in Jeddah, he had several new elements fitted to his PU, including a fresh internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, and an exhaust system.

In the season-opening Bahrain GP, Norris experienced a pneumatic pressure leak that forced him to pit six times during the race. While confident that the problem was fixed, Lando Norris stated that taking a new PU was the only option for the team.

He said (via motorsportweek):

“I took a whole new engine because the other one is finished already.”

The young Briton has qualified P19 for the Saudi Arabia race, while teammate Oscar Piastri is 10 spots ahead in P9. McLaren will be hoping for both drivers to do much better than how they fared in Bahrain, where Norris finished rock bottom and Piastri was forced to retire after 13 laps.

While far from competing with the front runners on the grid, Norris is expecting a tough midfield battle this year. He said:

“It’s close. I think me to last place was split between two-tenths, so if I made a little mistake I was in last place. It’s just very close, the midfield. Alpine are up the road on the whole midfield pack, so they’ve done more to their front. And even Williams seem a lot quicker than us too."

"It feels alright, to be honest, the car. I’m struggling a bit with overall balance but we’re just doing the best with what we’ve got.”

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Lando Norris advices McLaren to follow Ferrari and Aston Martin's route to glory

Lando Norris has urged McLaren to take inspiration from Aston Martin and Scuderia Ferrari, two teams who have made big leaps forward in recent years.

While McLaren are currently struggling to string together decent results, the 23-year-old has backed his team to deliver in the future, saying:

“Where did I want to be? It’s clear, but where we all want to be is clear: we want to be towards the top. I think that’s everyone’s dream, it’s every team’s dream in the whole grid but when you’re realistic, it’s between where we are now and those top four teams currently.”

Lando Norris added:

“So I think what Aston have done is this clear example and what Ferrari did between ’21 and ‘22 was a clear example of what we need to achieve and want to achieve. And it’s clear that it’s achievable. So we just got to go out and do it.”