McLaren 'yet to put everything together' at Austrian GP - Lando Norris

Norris, McLaren, Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

McLaren 'yet to put everything together' at Austrian GP - Norris

Norris finished ninth in FP2 at the Red Bull Ring

Ewan Gale

Friday 2 July 2021 17:37

Lando Norris conceded McLaren's true pace ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix has not been shown as the team has 'yet to put everything together'.

F1's second visit in as many weeks to the Red Bull Ring kicked off with two practice sessions during which a Pirelli tyre test was run in order to ensure a new construction of rear tyre would be suitable for use at upcoming races.

The tyres are supposedly more robust as the Italian manufacturer reacts to the Baku tyre failures suffered by Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll.

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Rain also fell during session two, although not heavy enough to force a change to treaded tyres during the race simulation runs.

Having finished ninth in FP2, Norris was asked by Sky Sports F1 of the day was tricky to manage, to which he replied: "A lot of differences, a lot of different tyres and a lot of different things.

"We did a lot of different things with the set-up as well so just a busy day really. I wouldn't say anything more than just a busy day and I have a good feeling but we didn't put everything together.

"We just tested a lot of different things and tonight we will do our analysis and hopefully we will come back tomorrow with a better package."

Norris hoping softer tyres plays to McLaren strengths

Pirelli has nominated the softest tyres in its range for this weekend's event, with each tyre compound a step softer than at the Styrian Grand Prix.

On whether managing the softs would be the biggest question mark ahead of the race, he Norris explained: "Even with the medium tyre!

"So last weekend the soft is now the medium tyre and was quite a difficult tyre to manage so just management in general on the softs, but also the medium and a little bit on the hard.

"It will probably be a more interesting race than last weekend so maybe a bit more difficult to look after the tyres, knowing when to push and when not to push and so on. Hopefully, it is fine for us and hopefully, we will do a good job."