7 March 2023 16:03 (UTC)
"I'm confident that we have a good enough car to bring the challenge to the competition"
Spa-Francorchamps, Friday 27 August
Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Executive Director, Racing, Andrea Stella after practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
FP1 | 1m46.336s (+1.137s) | 17 laps | 8th |
FP2 | 1m45.386s (+0.914s) | 18 laps | 9th |
“I’m happy with the first day back. Obviously, everyone’s getting back into it a little bit, but it was a positive day. We made some good improvements with the car, we tried some things between sessions and I think we have a good direction to explore overnight so we can go into FP3 and qualifying with a slightly better car. It’s been tricky, especially with the weather, but I’m confident that we have a good enough car to bring the challenge to the competition tomorrow and get a good result in qualifying.”
FP1 | 1m46.683s (+1.484s) | 20 laps | 12th |
FP2 | 1m46.118s (+1.646s) | 14 laps | 15th |
“Firstly, good to be back out there. It’s sometimes a little hard after a holiday but it was really nice to be back in the car. I enjoyed it, and I think this track is fun as well, so that helps me get excited. Our performance on the Soft tyre wasn’t great but I think we have a good understanding why, so I wouldn’t say I’m concerned about today’s times. It was pretty decent on the Hard.
“We made some steps with set-up, so we’ll try to make a bit more of a step tonight and learn a bit more. It was a steady day. We avoided the rain for the most part, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
“Overall, we’ve had a positive Friday, even though the day was disrupted by red flags and a little bit of rain at the start of each session. It looks like we’re in the midfield mix as usual, and tonight we’ll be analysing the data we’ve gathered to make sure we optimise all the details to be as competitive as possible in qualifying and in the race.
“Spa is always an interesting and challenging circuit. You have the weather, the low downforce set-up and some very high-speed corners that put a lot of load on the car. It’s a tough place to race but we’re looking to score good points this weekend.”
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