Grand Prix

Lando Norris 'Working on Himself' at Saudi GP Rather Than MCL39

Nelson Espinal|
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] April 6, 2025; Suzuka, JAPAN; Lando Norris leads Oscar Pastry in the F1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Manami Yamada/Reuters via Imagn Images
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] April 6, 2025; Suzuka, JAPAN; Lando Norris leads Oscar Pastry in the F1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Manami Yamada/Reuters via Imagn Images | Manami Yamada/Reuters via Imagn Images

McLaren driver Lando Norris has been working on adjusting his driving style, rather than the set-up in the car so far, which has led to him topping the timesheets during FP2.

Norris has been extremely open regarding his struggles both mentally and in the car, offering a rare sense of candidness about how he is doing and how he feels.

So far, through two sessions in Saudi Arabia, the McLaren driver has seemed much more comfortable with the car than in the last few races.

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“I think a pretty decent first day, it always just feels chaotic around here because it’s so fast, a lot of walls and a lot of near misses,” he said.

“But yeah, I think today has really been a day of trying to be working on my driving, working on myself, more than probably trying to work on the car.

“I’ve been getting more and more confident, you know? So I think a good start to the weekend, productive, gaining confidence, gaining feeling so, from what I wanted to achieve today, I think I’m on the right track.”

This season, Norris has had a tough time adjusting to the MCL39. Aside from the Australian Grand Prix, he has consistently struggled with the car, resulting in disappointing qualifying efforts and forcing him to compete from the back of the grid.

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The car itself appears to be once again the class of the field at the Saudi GP, boasting the strongest balance and tire wear on the grid, which allows for high pace ceilings and better pace retention over time.

“At the minute, I would say, we feel confident, but the others are not far behind,” Norris said.

“I probably was hoping for a bigger gap than what we had today."

“We know we’re fast, we know we have a great car, but certainly not comfortable, not as comfortable as what we would like."

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“Nothing more than that. We’ll keep our heads down, keep focused on ourselves and see what we can do.”

Norris appears ready to move on from this triple header and take a week to reset himself after early season struggles with the car.

For more F1 news, head over to F1 on SI.

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Nelson Espinal
NELSON ESPINAL

Nelson Espinal lives and breathes sports. Avidly following of everything ranging from motorsports to Mixed Martial Arts to tennis, he is connected with most of the sports world at all times. His dream of writing about sports started at 16 years of age, writing for a Lakers fans blog, and his passions for sports writing has grown since. He has his Bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a minor in writing literature from the University of California, San Diego.

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