Lando Norris has warned McLaren’s Formula 1 rivals that the team’s upgrades were not totally exploited at the Miami Grand Prix, despite him going on to win the race.
McLaren introduced sweeping changes to the MCL38 at the Miami International Autodrome, with 10 revisions targeted at improving the aero efficiency of its package.
Norris utilised those enhancements to show searing speed from the outset, which translated to him capitalising on a mid-race Safety Car to log his maiden F1 victory.
However, the Briton had cautioned before that breakthrough result that Miami would not demonstrate the entire potential of the Woking-based squad’s developments.
“It’s good, it’s working as expected but I think it’s not the track which is going to show all of it,” Norris said.
“Hopefully in Imola or something, we can see a bit more of the potential of the car.
“But it’s a step in the right direction, that team has done a very good job to get everything up and ready.”
Norris believes that even the next round at Imola – when Oscar Piastri will receive the remaining parts – won’t provide all the answers that McLaren is seeking to obtain.
“I think you can never judge it on one session and one track,” he added.
“You have to see it on high downforce, low downforce and everything. People are too quick to judge everything from one weekend or one day or whatever.
“I think everyone just needs to be a bit more patient with everything and see what it’s like over two weekends, three weekends before you start to judge.
“We have our answers, but to know the true extent of it and how well it performs in different areas, you have to wait over three races rather than just making a conclusion in one.”
Norris heads into the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with a strong record at the Italian venue, having logged two podiums on his previous two visits to the historic circuit.
McLaren heads to Imola sat in third place in the Constructors’ Championship, 60 points clear of Mercedes and 63 points behind Ferrari, who will implement upgrades.
