Norris: To a certain extent I understand a partner’s problems

According to Lando Norris, he understands to some extent the reasons for Daniel Ricciardo’s problems, who cannot adapt to the McLaren car.

After ten stages of the season, the Australian has just 15 points, while Lando has already earned 58 and in the previous stage at Silverstone he was noticeably ahead of his partner in all sessions of the weekend.

When Norris was asked if he could help Daniel in any way before the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando replied: “We always analyze each other’s telemetry and ask each other questions. I won’t say I always want to do this, but I help him as much as I can.

There are many things he is good at, and I am still learning from my partner and applying his experience – this applies to driving, tuning the car and much more. But I’m happy to answer his questions if he wants to know anything about my impressions of the MCL36.

But at the same time, my feelings don’t always match what he feels. He also has a slightly different management style. Speaking of my preferences, I don’t mind if the car behaves a bit unstable, and I can load it more up front.

You could say he prefers a little more stability, or maybe the car is more prone to understeer. But it’s not that easy to be specific, and I can’t tell him what I’m doing like that, so you have to do the same. In some ways I can understand him because I also feel that our car is not so easy to drive.

I think the McLaren cars in recent years have had these characteristics, and even Carlos Sainz said they are very specific, if not unique. Therefore, the style of pilots that you have mastered all your life is not suitable here and you have to adapt in many ways. And it’s not that easy.

For example, in some corners you have to brake longer, although you absolutely do not want this, but in other corners you have to act in reverse. In general, it cannot be said that behind the wheel of this car one should act in a certain and understandable way.

The MCL36 no longer has some of the features typical of last year’s car, but other features have appeared. I also had to change the driving style significantly, so it’s not like I drove for McLaren for the fourth year and studied these cars very well. At the start of the season I also had some problems and in the first tests they were more serious than Daniel, so I tried a lot to adapt.