Norris set for further FP1 sessions

McLaren are set to give their newest recruit a lot more time in the car during race weekends by giving him plenty of FP1 session between now and the end of the year.

McLaren announced on Monday that Lando Norris would be replacing the outgoing Stoffel Vandoorne for the 2019 season, making him the youngest confirmed driver on next year’s grid.

Norris turns 19 in November and is in the mix for the F2 title this year, trailing fellow Brit George Russell by 22 points with four rounds remaining.

Norris’ consistency may have been a factor McLaren were looking at, as Vandoorne could not provide the reliability required to get regular points. Norris has only failed to score points twice in the 2018 F2 season.

And now the team are prepared to give Norris their full backing and hand him plenty of FP1 appearances.

The young Brit has already appeared in FP1 in Belgium and Italy, and is set for as many as five more sessions in the car.

Zak Brown told the media: “We’ll put him in for another four or five Free Practice Ones.”

However, Brown is keen to avoid interfering with Norris’ F2 championship fight.

He added: “I think we’ll try and keep him away from some of the Formula 2 weekends. The ‘hurry up, get out of there in FP1 and go and run to Formula 2’, I don’t think has done him any favours the last few races.

“I think that while the Free Practice 1s have been really good for us, he’s made the comment to me that he actually feels more comfortable in the Formula 1 car now than in the Formula 2.

“We’d like to see him win the Formula 2 championship, which he’s still got a chance at. But he’s got to hustle.”