Lando Norris worked on improving his consistency during qualifying laps in McLaren’s simulator during the off-season.
He was unhappy with some of his qualifying performances towards the end of last season when mistakes cost him vital positions on the starting grid.
Following an error during grand prix qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix which saw his have his final Q3 time deleted for track limits, leaving him tenth on the grid, Norris was particularly harsh in his assessment of his performance.
“I’m just so stupid,” he told race engineer Will Joseph over team radio after completing his lap. “I should be on pole. I just fuck it up too much, I’m sorry.”
Three rounds later in Brazil, Norris was again unhappy with his final lap in the last phase of sprint qualifying after making an error in the first corner, despite taking pole position for the sprint race.
“Well done, I guess,” he said over radio after being told he had secured pole. “I don’t know why it feels so bad, but so good.”
Asked by RaceFans what he had done to ensure he would be more consistent in qualifying over the upcoming season, Norris said he had been working on single-lap performance in the team’s simulator.
“It’s been various things already, both in terms of in how I drive, how I work in extracting the performance during laps,” said Norris. “Understanding these traits and these things and also then putting them already to the test on the simulator and trying to improve them.
“Sometimes it’s hard to improve various things until you’re actually in the car and performing it, but to the extent of what I can – even if it’s mental things at the same time, trying to work on any area that I can to improve it – I would say I have done. But it’s always a different experience until you get back in the car and you’re in that moment again, until you can really try to try things during that pressure and during those moments.”
Despite working on improving his qualifying performances, Norris admits he will have to wait until the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix weekend to put his preparation to the test.
“I’ve done what I can with various things, with my team that I have around me,” he said. “But it’s hard to know I guess, until the first qualifying of the season, how well those things might work, whether they have or not and what further things might need to be done to improve in those areas.”
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