Current Formula 1 champion Lando Norris has criticized the category’s engine and chassis changes after qualifying in sixth place for the Australian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver stated that the changes made the cars go from “best to worst” in just one season.
had a difficult weekend in Melbourne, with reliability issues, and adapting to the new riding style, which requires greater energy and battery management.
“You slow down a lot before corners, you have to ease off the throttle everywhere to make sure the (battery) pack is at maximum,” said the Briton in the Albert Park paddock.
“If the package is too high, you’re screwed too. It’s just difficult, but that’s what we have.”
Even using Mercedes engines, McLaren — current champion among constructors — was far from Mercedes’ own performance in the classification.
with a time of 1:18.518, more than eight tenths faster than McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who will start fifth. Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli was second.
“It’s not a good feeling as a driver, but I’m sure George is smiling,” said Norris.
“We went from the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the most enjoyable to drive to probably the worst. It’s bad, but we have to live with it.”
“It’s going to be even worse”
Despite the difficulties, Norris told Sky he was “pretty happy” with sixth place on the grid.
The driver also had an incident during qualifying when he ran over a cooling fan that fell from Antonelli’s car.
The impact caused a crack in Norris’ front wing, forcing the driver to return to the pits, where mechanics repaired the damage with tape.
Norris did not show much confidence in an improvement in performance during Sunday’s race.
“I mean, it’s already bad, so it’s probably going to be even worse,” he said.
Understanding the car
Oscar Piastri had a more stable session and said he managed to extract almost everything from the car in qualifying.
“Everything is a bit messy, but with these cars you change something from one lap to another and end up with more or less power,” he said.
“It doesn’t always go in the direction you expect. We have a lot to learn after this, but I think we are more or less where we thought we would be.”
McLaren boss Andrea Stella said the team needs to work with engine supplier Mercedes HPP to extract more performance from the power unit.
“Mercedes’ performance today shows there is more to find there,” he said.
