Daily News 19

Tag: McLaren

  • George Russell: “Specialist” Lando Norris Always Strong at Tracks Like Zandvoort

    George Russell: “Specialist” Lando Norris Always Strong at Tracks Like Zandvoort

    Russell: Norris a Specialist at High-Degradation Circuits After Zandvoort Win

    George Russell believes Lando Norris’s back-to-back victories in Hungary and the Netherlands are no surprise, citing the McLaren driver’s historical strength at tracks defined by long corners and high tyre degradation.

    Norris secured pole and victory at both the Hungaroring and Zandvoort either side of the summer break, a surge coinciding with a significant McLaren upgrade package. However, Russell pointed out that Norris has consistently excelled at circuits sharing these specific characteristics.

    “I don’t think it’s a major surprise for us, seeing how competitive Lando was this weekend, considering he won in Budapest,”

    Russell said after finishing third in the Dutch Grand Prix.

    “It’s a very similar circuit with the long corners, high tyre degradation, with the two-stop strategy, so there’s a lot of similarities between the two circuits. I think this may continue for the coming two or three races until we start to bring more to the car, and fingers crossed our competitors don’t.”

    Monza Presents Different Challenge

    The next round at Monza offers a contrasting layout. While it features a few long corners, the Italian circuit is predominantly characterised by long straights, heavy braking zones, and low-speed chicanes. Russell expects Mercedes to be more competitive there, referencing the team’s strong performances at Shanghai, Montreal, and Silverstone earlier this season.

    However, he acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding Ferrari’s rumoured engine upgrade and the unique demands Monza places on power units.

    “I think we will be slightly more competitive there,”

    Russell said of Monza.

    “However, I believe Ferrari have an engine upgrade incoming, and the truth is we just don’t know.”

    Despite the circuit change, Russell maintains McLaren remains the benchmark, particularly in high-degradation conditions where Norris excels.

    “But I do believe that these high-degradation circuits really suit McLaren very well, and especially Lando. He’s always been a bit of a specialist in those conditions. We also saw it last year.”

    “Monza may be slightly different, but I think they are the team to beat right now.”

    Antonelli Faces Grid Penalty at Home Race

    Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli is set to start from the back of the grid at his home round in Monza. The penalty stems from a full Mercedes power unit change that exceeds his seasonal allocation.

  • Lando Norris: I’m eliminating my F1 weaknesses, and I don’t have so many

    Lando Norris: I’m eliminating my F1 weaknesses, and I don’t have so many

    Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris believes he is delivering a more complete performance in 2025 than during his title-winning season, citing improvements in both racecraft and off-track engineering collaboration. The McLaren driver backed up that claim with back-to-back victories at the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, securing pole position and the win in both rounds.

    Title Defence Gains Momentum After Slow Regulatory Start

    Despite the recent surge, Norris sits fourth in the drivers’ championship, trailing leader Kimi Antonelli by 83 points. McLaren’s difficult adaptation to the new technical regulations had initially dampened title expectations, but the twin victories have injected fresh life into the British driver’s campaign.

    Norris: “I’m Doing a Better Job at Understanding This Car”

    Speaking after his Zandvoort triumph, Norris explained that the 2025 machinery presents a stiffer challenge, yet his ability to manage it has evolved.

    “I was driving at a high level the second half of last year. It’s tough to say [if I’m driving at my highest level], but I do think it’s a trickier car to drive this year in some ways,” Norris said. “I think you can see that because the gaps between team-mates are often bigger this year, I would say, than it was last year. But I do believe so.
    “I do believe I’m able to understand situations better, to understand the car in a better way. It’s still just horrible to drive, but I’m doing a better job at just understanding this, relaying this to my team, figuring stuff out.
    “So, it’s not just I’m driving better on track. I’m certainly eliminating my weaknesses on track, and I don’t have so many, but it’s also how I work off the track. And for me, yesterday to today is a perfect example of [how] the work we put in overnight transformed our race and gave me the opportunity to win.
    “So, the work we put in away from the track is certainly a huge part of that.”

    Overnight Engineering Turnaround Key to Zandvoort Victory

    Norris highlighted the specific gains made between Saturday’s sprint race—where he finished third—and Sunday’s grand prix. A disappointing sprint showing prompted an intensive debrief with his engineering crew.

    “Pretty high just from a point of very well fought in many ways. More than that is the turnaround from yesterday to today.
    “I was pretty disappointed yesterday. It kind of took a little bit of the fire out of me, seeing how much we struggled in the sprint. I know it’s just a sprint, but every point matters and we just really didn’t have the pace. I didn’t have that something that gave me life inside the car.
    “Last night we worked very, very hard. I spent a lot of time with my engineers to kind of understand what we could do better today, how to push more, save the tyres more, how to do everything in a better way than I’ve done and better than everyone else. And I certainly believe I did that today.
    “So apart from the start, it was a little bit of a mix of races because the beginning in the first stint was pretty bad and kind of reminded me of yesterday. But we put the hard tyres on and things came alive and the race really started to come back to me.”

    McLaren’s Development Trajectory Points Upward

    The Zandvoort weekend underscored a critical strength for McLaren: the capacity to diagnose and solve performance deficits rapidly. Norris credited the overnight session for unlocking race-winning pace, particularly after switching to the hard compound tyre, which transformed the car’s behaviour and allowed him to dictate the second half of the grand prix.

    With the regulation reset still in its early phase, the Woking squad’s ability to extract performance through driver-engineer synergy could prove decisive as the championship progresses.

    Lando Norris, McLaren. Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images