"It's always a good feeling" - McLaren's Lando Norris feels 'things have stacked up well' coming into the 2022 F1 Spanish GP with huge upgrades

Lando Norris admitted to feeling good about his chances with McLaren at the 2022 F1 Spanish GP after huge upgrades were made to his MCL36.

During a pre-race press conference at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the 22-year-old was asked to describe the sense of anticipation in the team ahead of the sixth round of the season. Norris said:

“It’s always good coming into a weekend, knowing you’re going to have some things to help you go quicker. It’s always a good feeling. Everyone’s positive and so on. I think it is also a different story of how well does it all actually work on the racetrack comparing to the wind tunnel, and so on. But so far this year, things have stacked up well, so we’ll see, we’ll see how much it brings.”

The Briton, who had a race to forget last time around during the 2022 F1 Miami GP, went on to add, saying:

“You know, it’s not as simple as throwing it on the car and then just going quicker. You have to make some changes here and there to adapt to it and to maximise the potential of these different parts and so on. So, yeah, I’m excited. I think everyone in the team is excited. The factory have done an amazing job to get all the parts here for this weekend. Yeah, we just gotta hope that they work well. And we can take some steps forward.”

McLaren has brought 10 upgrades in total for the race weekend in Barcelona. These include a new front wing, front suspension, front cover, floor body, engine cover, cooling louvers, rear wing, rear corner, sidepod inlet, and diffuser.

Lando Norris managed to put in 27 laps in FP1 and was the seventh-fastest driver in the session with a time of 1:21.279 before being limited to only six laps in FP2. It remains to be seen how many upgrades will stay on his car when it goes out into parc fermé for qualifying.

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"I'm hoping it's gonna be a good one" - Lando Norris expecting Barcelona track to suit McLaren

Lando Norris is expecting the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to suit his McLaren MCL36 akin to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and the Albert Park Circuit.

Speaking at the customary pre-race press conference, the 22-year-old said:

“I’m hoping it’s going to be a bit more in line with some of the tracks which have suited us more, similar to Saudi, similar to Australia. We still have like the slow-speed last sector, which is maybe not our strength, but because of I guess, of how well we did here in pre-season testing, how comfortable I was with the car and so on, and with the changes we made anyway, but also with different parts for this weekend, yeah, I’m hoping it’s gonna be a good one. So, we’ll see. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. But especially coming off Miami as well, it would be nice to get some points on the board again.”

Lando Norris is currently in P7 in the World Drivers' Championship standings with one podium and 35 points from five races.