McLaren Troubles Explained By Team Boss After Horrendous Race For Norris and Piastri
It was a rough start to the 2023 F1 season for Lando Norris and his McLaren team. The young driver faced a plethora of issues from the first lap of the season-opener in Bahrain, ultimately having to pit six times. Meanwhile, his teammate Oscar Piastri was forced to retire due to separate problems on his F1 debut.
However, in the midst of the chaos, Norris found a glimmer of positivity: his team's mechanics had a chance to hone their pit stop skills. He said:
“I think the best thing is the mechanics did a lot of pit stop practices.
“That’s the biggest positive."
Despite the issues, Norris felt that the pace of the car was "ok-ish" and believed that they could have scored a point had they not encountered problems. Unfortunately, the car suffered from pneumatic problems and other issues from Turn 1, forcing them to pit every ten laps.
New team principal Andrea Stella explained that there was a pneumatic pressure leak on Norris' car, which they discovered relatively early on in the race. Despite the setback, they decided to stay in the race and attempt to stay within one lap of the leader in case an opportunity arose. Stella explained:
"There was a pneumatic pressure leak on Lando's car. We discovered this leak relatively soon in the race.
"Then we knew that it was possible only to do 10, 11 laps each time before having to refill.
"We decided to stay in the race, we decided to try and stay at least within one lap from the leader within the last 10 laps.
"Then if there's a safety car, try and see if there was an opportunity. We did six stops."
Meanwhile, Piastri's race ended when an attempt to fix an electrical problem by replacing the steering wheel failed. Stella explained that the issue was with the harness around the steering column, and not the wheel itself.
The McLaren team has had a difficult start to the season, with CEO Zak Brown admitting that the car's development was behind schedule. Norris was even seen punching a wall in frustration during pre-season testing in Bahrain. However, it's clear that the team is determined to bounce back and improve their performance in the coming races.
While the Bahrain Grand Prix was undoubtedly a nightmare for Lando Norris and McLaren, the experience has given the team a chance to learn from their mistakes and improve their skills moving forward. As they continue to work on developing their car, fans can look forward to seeing what Norris and Piastri can achieve on the track in the future.