Randorris enjoyed a tremendous start to the 2025 Formula 1 season at the Australian Grand Prix. He took the position of Paul, banked the fastest lap of the race, and went home with a victory.
However, in the driver's own words, the MCL39 is still “very difficult to drive.”
Norris's explanation FIA Press Conference It may sound surprising given the outcome in Melbourne ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. But they have to talk to the sensitive nature of modern F1 cars with the way teams offer the fastest possible car, and the nature of each driver's own.
“As a driver, I think you are always at the limits of your car and that's what your car can do, so you're always trying to see a place to improve. I started Norris When asked about his Australian Grand Prix. “My start was good – it wasn’t perfect, no – but it was clear where I lost some of my performance at launch.
“And from a car perspective, the car is working well, but it's still very difficult to drive,” Norris continued. “We know Max, in certain conditions, like the wettest conditions [Verstappen] It was as fast as us. In dry conditions, we got a little better. ”
Norris went on to say that McLaren's goal is to make the car more “predictable” but it's hard to complain given they've started the season.
“So it's just making the car a little more predictable and a little more comfortable. But that's on the good side. I can't complain about the whole thing,” Norris added. “It's on a good level, but during Oscars [Piastri] And I myself have comments. The car is great, but we always want more. ”
Later in the press conference, when asked to elaborate on the difficult nature of the MCL39, Norris outlined how he grew up to accept that there may not be a “perfect” car while the car doesn't fit the “style” of driving.
What matters is what makes the car faster in his mind.
“It's not yet suitable for my driving style,” Norris began. “I think I've come to a place where I accept that I can't get the perfect car that suits your style. It probably suits some people, but I've stopped asking exactly what I want.
To hear Norris say it, his job at McLaren is to drive the car they give him and drive it on the grid more than anyone else.
“It's probably a difficult car to drive and put together a lap, but obviously it's a step forward from last year,” Norris continued. “At the end of the day, my job is to drive the car I was given, so I was here. That's why McLaren wanted me. They believe I can drive it more than anyone else.
The McLaren driver, and the current driver's championship leader, detailed what he wants from his car and how the MCL39 is not suited to these characteristics.
“It's a similar trait, and some of these traits that I don't like and don't suit the way I want to drive, in an offensive way,” Norris explained. “It doesn't suit me in terms of wanting to push the entry and put the brakes on. It's very weak. It's not something I like from that point of view, but at the same time, the cars I drive need to change my driving style every year because McClallane was a few years ago, and we were in the back.
Norris then emphasized that he left the team and outlined how drivers driving elsewhere were, in retrospect, how McLaren would drive, “hard or weird.” However, driving a McLaren was everything he knows, and he was able to adapt, as Norris' entire Formula 1 career was Woking-based operation.
“For these reasons, it's like 'This is McLaren' and I've driven a McLaren, so that's just what I know. I think it's unique in a certain way. [Ricciardo] Or with Carlos [Sainz]Norris added.
Norris took the listeners all the things the engineers need to balance out when trying to find lap times. Certainly, teams can find better aerodynamic peaks, but they often come at the expense of other situations that teams may encounter on the track.
“The fact is that the guys and girls who go back to the factory are just trying to find lap times. You need to balance the car's behavior. As other teams said, if it works at a higher peak, if it gets better, if it gets better, drive in better condition and the wind is blowing. To achieve this balance, it's hard to get both.
As for what Norris wants to see from an F1 car, he admitted it could be very difficult to achieve.
“And I'm sure some of the things I want in a car are hard to handle first. That's probably the best answer. For me, it's the good side of the pinnacle. “But I don't have anything I need from that perspective very rarely.
“But cars can still win races. It's not that the car is bad if I don't have what I want. I can still make the most of the car. If I don't have anything I want, there's just a compromise. I continued with the McLaren driver.
“There are so many compromises you have to make and at the end of the day you just want the best all-around car. I think that's the main answer to everything.
Norris concluded with his thoughts on what he learned as a driver and how he adapted his driving to what the team could give him on the truck.
“I think I've got a better understanding of that for the last few years, about driving style, the need to drive a car. Maybe I want this from the car and I want to keep driving until you're more suited to it.”
“I think I just dumped it and said, 'It's okay, give me the best car, and I need to adapt more to the car I was given.” “It's not the most comfortable and not the one I like most. Now I can make the most of it, but over the last year and a half I have probably learned more about driving than I have in the last five years, just because the car has changed.
So far, its adaptation has been working. We'll see if it will continue this weekend at China's Grand Prix.
