Both Lando Norris’ McLaren F1 team and Ferrari were the big two singled out by the headlines two weeks ago during the first three days of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Norris led the timesheets on day one and Charles Leclerc on day two, before Lewis Hamilton and George Russell put Mercedes top of the times on the final day of testing.
The British McLaren driver was quick to downplay the pace of the MCL36 and said he signed on to finish last to keep expectations low. In singling out some of his rivals, Norris singled out Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, the two dominant forces in 2021, saying both are ahead of the rest of the teams despite the new 2022 rules.
“Mercedes never look very good in testing, until they get to the first race. If they’re good in testing, it means they’ll probably be amazing in the first race,” he joked.
“So no, I think everyone is working on their own programs, everyone has different fuel loads, power modes and everything else.
Lando Norris at the wheel of the McLaren MCL36
“We can see something, we can see that we are in a good position right now, but Mercedes and Ferrari have looked very strong from day one. They have been at the top of the timesheets at all times and their race pace looks strong”.
“Ferrari looks very promising, but Mercedes and Red Bull are also there with us, I would even say they are a bit ahead at the moment.
Norris , who admitted that McLaren ‘s tests “were not perfect”, assured that he enjoyed driving the MCL36 and ended by acknowledging that they still have many areas to improve in order to take the next step and challenge the best teams on the grid.
“Personally, I feel we have a lot of work to do as a team if we want to fight them,” added the British driver.
“We expected [to get closer], but we know there are still a lot of things we need to improve to get to the level they are at,” Lando Norris concluded.
