Lando Norris: Everything went better than it seemed

The McLaren drivers are still waiting to draw any definitive conclusions about the balance of power this weekend, as neither they nor their rivals have completed many laps on the first day of practice in Suzuka, but believe the picture is about the same as what we have seen since the saw at the beginning of the season.

Oscar Piastri (8th in the first session): “Today there wasn’t much to do on the track in the second session, but at the end of the session I was still able to do a few laps in difficult conditions. I think the day went well, although it is not yet entirely clear who is capable of what pace, as no one has completed enough representative laps.

I think we’re in a pretty good position, so we’ll analyze all the data available and hope we can figure something out before tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Lando Norris (10th in the first session): “The first training went well, we collected enough information. Everything went better than it seems from the outside, as the session was interrupted by red flags. At that point I was on a fast lap and the set of soft tires I was riding on stopped working.

But I think overall we’re in a good position. Obviously we are not the fastest, but McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin are around the same level – we expected this though. Ferrari and Red Bull are too far ahead, but I am confident that we can close the gap a bit tomorrow. Overall, the picture is about the same as it has been since the start of the season.

In practice my car was set up for slightly less downforce than Oscar’s McLaren, because we wanted to try a slightly different approach.

Unfortunately we were not able to complete many laps and due to the unfavorable weather that accompanied the second session, we did not do much work on the track, which meant that the fans in the stands were out of luck as they were there to watch the training.”