McLaren find themselves locked into a tight battle for the 2024 Constructors’ title with Red Bull. However, repeated mistakes from Lando Norris are hurting the Woking-based team’s chances of fighting for the title dearly.
On the Red Flags Podcast, former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner discussed the issues the #4 driver is facing with his race starts. Throughout the season, the Briton has failed to make up a single position during the opening lap. On the contrary, as the 2024 Belgian GP showed, Norris has mostly missed out on race wins by dropping places as the lights go out.
Steiner explained, “He [Norris] needs to stop doing it because he’s starting to lose a lot of races because of his starts, you know. So, I hope he gets his act together. He’s doing some silly little mistakes still, which I am surprised he still keeps on doing them.”
Fun Fact:
Lando Norris is the only driver to not gain a single place on lap 1 in all of the 17 races this season.
There have been 7 races where he’s lost positions on lap 1
There have been 10 races where he’s stayed in his position on lap 1
Never even gained a single place pic.twitter.com/RioEhwCitc
— ۟ (@tracingpoint) July 31, 2024
Accounting for the Sprint Races also run so far, Norris has maintained the status quo in terms of his grid position during ten races. As for the other seven races, he has lost places during the start of the Grand Prix.
As a result, the British racing ace only has one win to his name so far. Looking at the races in the past (like the Hungarian GP and the Belgian GP), the #4 driver has not made the most of his starting position. Consequently, he has dropped down the order and failed to recover enough to be in contention for the win again.
Norris acknowledges his race start mistakes in 2024
Steiner isn’t the only one concerned about Norris’ race starts. The McLaren driver himself is often very hard on himself and has explained how his mistakes have resulted in his side losing the opportunity to score valuable points.
Norris admitted that a certain standard needs to be maintained to ensure consistency in a sport when the competition is so close. He has also hinted at working with the team more closely in the future to iron out the minor niggles that have been impeding them from getting the best possible result over a race weekend.
“ive got to work on myself and on a few things first[..]*mentions his starts* but i know that, i know ive got to work on my things & keep focus. thats what i’ll use the summer break for, as much as its to disconnect its to review a lot of things & make sure i come back stronger” pic.twitter.com/E5sMQq7IL5
— ray (@ln4norris) August 1, 2024
The issues plaguing McLaren and Norris, however, have come as a welcome surprise for the fans. This season has been highly competitive with seven different race winners in the first 14 rounds of the season so far.
