Lando Norris insists that he does not feel comfortable with his McLaren despite being fastest of all in Friday practice at Spa-Francorchamps.
The McLaren driver was two tenths faster than team mate Oscar Piastri as they topped the second practice session ahead of Max Verstappen in third.
But despite being the quickest of all over a single lap, Norris was less than satisfied with the feeling of his McLaren around the high speed Spa circuit.
“It’s still tough, still close,” Norris told the official F1 channel after the session. “Red Bull are very quick at the minute.
“I’ve just not felt very comfortable today with the car. Hopefully I just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable with it. But we’re trying to improve a few things.
“I know it looks good on the timesheets, but I’ve not felt super comfortable in just going out and doing it. So hopefully I can just get in a bit more of a rhythm and feel a bit better out there.”
Norris says he is concerned that there might not be a lot that McLaren can do to the set-up of his car before Saturday’s final practice session to help him find more confidence in his car’s handling.
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“I don’t think it’s a lot,” he said. “We’re always able to come to a circuit now and be within millimetres of margin straightaway.
“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 just from my side, actually just feeling like I can just go out and nail it. I’m not quite there yet.”
There is a high risk of rain expected to hit the Belgian circuit for Saturday’s qualifying session. Norris says he will have to decide whether to compromise his downforce levels between a wet qualifying and a dry race on Sunday.
“Generally for the rain, you want to edge towards the high downforce, but I don’t think that’s maybe a direction to go in anyway,” he explained.
“But I don’t know just yet. So I’ll sit down with my guys and we’ll talk about it.”
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2024 Belgian Grand Prix
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