Mclaren looking for answers following disastrous race
Lando Norris arrived at the post-race media pen wearing a “brave face” after the promise Mclaren had shown in testing could only return 14th for Daniel Ricciardo and 15th for the Brit in Bahrain.
The team had been tipped by many, including Lewis Hamilton, to be the fourth best at the very least after impressing in the Barcelona running. But Mclaren hadn’t resolved the brake and cooling issues that came to blight its pre-season running at Sakhir, for which Ricciardo was sidelined by COVID-19. Beyond the suspected power disadvantage of the Mercedes engine, both drivers complained about an overall lack of downforce that revealed itself with critical under and oversteer.
Norris worked his way into Q2 to qualify 13th behind Mick Schumacher, before any progress in the race was blunted by a slow second pitstop that dropped him to the back of the midfield. His pointed assessment was: “I’m sure it looks just as bad as it felt. It’s just where we are, quite simply. We just have to get a little bit used to it now. We just haven’t got it right at the minute. We’re a long way off.
“We’re a long way down on downforce. The handling therefore is very poor. It’s a tricky car and tricky tyres to optimise.”
Ricciardo, who was eliminated in Q1, fell to last as he avoided Schumacher’s spin on lap one, but recovered sufficiently to trump Nicholas Latifi and Norris. The Australian added: “There’s a lot to try and understand. I knew there would be. It’s the first race distance as well I’ve done this year and trying all compounds in the race. I tried to treat it like a test session.
“Obviously, we’re lacking some pace. I think it’s general. I don’t think it’s necessarily just one area. I think we lack just probably a little bit of downforce and that’s really the key. I don’t think the car actually feels like it’s massively out of balance. We’re just lacking overall grip.”