Lando Norris says he hasn’t felt comfortable with his car in Belgium, despite topping the timing sheets of the second Formula 1 practice session on Friday.
Norris drove 19 laps in Friday’s second session, posting a time of 1:42.260s on Soft tyres to secure first, just two-tenths ahead of team-mate Piastri in second.
While Norris believes the team has some work to do to improve the car ahead of qualifying and Sunday’s race, he says the margins are fine and praised McLaren’s preparation for the weekend.
“Red Bull are very quick at the minute, so tricky,” Norris said when asked about his thoughts on the first day of running. “I’ve just not felt very comfortable today with the car, so yeah, hopefully, I just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable.
“But we’ll try and improve a few things, I know it’s looked good on the timing sheets but I’ve not felt super comfortable in just going out and doing it.
“Hopefully I can just get in a bit more of a rhythm and feel a bit better out there.”
Norris arrives at Spa hopeful of another big points haul for McLaren and in the quest for his own World Championship title bid, after the team secured a 1-2 in Hungary.
The Woking-based outfit has an extra opportunity this weekend, with championship leader Max Verstappen serving a 10-place grid drop for a new engine.
Despite his discomfort, Norris says the car isn’t far off.
“I don’t think it’s a lot,” he said when asked about potential overnight changes. “We’re always able to come to a circuit now and be within millimetres of margin straight away.
“It’s not like you ever really change the whole car overnight anymore. If you do, you’re kind of not doing a good enough job before the weekend, so we’ve prepared well and we’ve got a good set-up on the car and it’s working.
But yeah, just from my side actually just feeling like I could just go out and nail it, I’m not quite there yet.”
