“Very productive between us and the Merc guys” – Lando Norris has spoken out on the McLaren switch from Renault to Mercedes this season, re-unioning after 7 years.
Like Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, Lando Norris also would be racing a Mercedes-powered car for the very first time. And with what the McLaren driver has seen in pre-season testing, things are on the up.
“I think altogether it’s been a smooth operation with Mercedes power so far. I think we’re happy with how things have gone. The bit for me is understanding all the new switches and ways of working that they have – that’s one of the biggest things to get used to – and on the whole, it’s that little step forward in a lot of areas.
“But there are some areas that still need some work, and we’ve been working very closely with them over the last three days because the other teams which are Mercedes-powered have been with Mercedes for a while.
McLaren helping Mercedes too with ‘perspective’
McLaren has returned to their successful partnership with Mercedes, which won them their last title with Lewis Hamilton. With the British team switching from Renault to Mercedes, Norris believes this will give a fresh perspective to Mercedes, who have been working with Williams and Racing Point/Aston Martin, of late.
“There’s just that constant everyone kind of gets used to things, and we’ve come in from Renault with fresh eyes, a different perspective, different feelings, and I think we’ve really been able to add and improve in some areas.
“So very productive between us and the Merc guys – HPP [High Performance Powertrains] – and I think we can be happy with the improvements we’ve made over the last three days. There are still things to work on, again not just with the car but with the PU and so on, but it is at the moment looking good and we’re happy with how things have gone. So we have to wait until qualifying to really unlock the potential and see what the baby’s got.
“I think it’s a very good car to start off with. From the first lap that we managed to do, we felt very confident in it and we can push on it a lot.
