"Not the day we really wanted" - Lando Norris' first day at Bahrain test plagued by McLaren brake problems

McLaren driver Lando Norris revealed his car had severe brake issues on the first day of testing in Bahrain. The Briton believes the day overall was not what they expected it to be, especially with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo being absent from the paddock.

Describing McLaren’s first day in Bahrain overall, Norris spoke to Autosport and said:

“I think on the whole not the day we really wanted. I guess it started off with me doing a whole day, Daniel was not feeling so well, so I decided to jump in, it was much easier to do it that way. We had quite a few issues today with the car, and it took a long time to figure it out, and it limited us quite a bit to do the amount of laps wanted to do.”

Lando Norris, who substituted for an unwell Ricciardo, managed to complete only 47 laps throughout the day. According to the Briton, their run was interrupted by several technical issues with the car. The McLaren team had the second lowest mileage of the day, managing only two more laps than Haas, who missed the morning session due to freight delays.

Shedding light on the technical issues, the McLaren driver said:

“We just had problems with the brakes today, simple as that. The exact problems I’m not too sure, but just temperatures and stuff. It didn’t allow us to do long runs. Things we are trying to fix the next few days, it’s not going to be an easy fix, so we’ll see what we can do. It wasn’t obviously something we could just fix today, it’s not something that easy to fix.”

Norris did not get into the specifics as he was unsure if the problem was easy enough to fix within the day. The McLaren driver revealed there were issues with brake temperatures that compromised their long runs.

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Lando Norris calls first day of test in Bahrain frustrating

Acknowledging the frustration felt throughout the day, Lando Norris believes there is a lot of work that could have been accomplished. The British driver believes it is critical to understand the differences between the cars functioning on a track like Bahrain compared to the last test in Barcelona.

Speaking about having an interrupted testing day, Norris said:

“[It is] A bit frustrating, because especially here being so different to Barcelona, we really wanted to try and understand as much as we could and the differences, and how the cars are working here on a much bumpier track.”

McLaren were looking competitive in Barcelona, however, the weather conditions and track conditions in Bahrain can be significantly different. Data analysis here, therefore, will involve understanding how the car works in warmer temperatures.