McLaren needs to catch up in F1: 'We've already implemented some tweaks'

He is still only 23 years old, but Lando Norris is about to embark on his fifth season in Formula 1 and thus already has the necessary experience in the king class. Yet the young Briton is still approaching the new season with as much enthusiasm as at the start.

After more than three months without F1 action, the new season is finally upon us. The season will kick off in Bahrain, where the winter test was held a week earlier. "It’s finally race week and I can’t wait to jump back in the MCL60 and get on track," Norris began in a McLaren press release.

Challenging pre-season test Bahrain

The pre-season test was not exactly trouble-free for McLaren. The Woking-based team was plagued by technical problems and also had to lose out to the competition at the top of the midfield in terms of speed. "Testing wasn’t without its challenges, but we’re working hard to continue to push us forward to get us back to where we want to be on the grid," continued the 23-year-old Bristol-based driver.

So there will have to be some catching up to do by McLaren, which itself was the first to admit not having met all its development targets. Real solutions in the form of updates are still some time away, but Norris is keeping his spirits up. "We’ve learned a lot about the car, and we’ve already implemented some tweaks to optimise performance where we can," said the Mclaren driver.