A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
With Lando Norris topping the first practice session and Oscar Piastri leading his British teammate in the second, team principal Andrea Stella can't be anything but happy with how the first day of racing action went for McLaren as he stated in the Woking-based team's press release.
In the end, McLaren can be happy with how the day went. "A relatively smooth session today without any major issues. This allowed us to run through our plan and to check the behaviour of the MCL39 here in Australia – which is a very different circuit to Bahrain, where we carried out winter testing," stated the Italian team principal in McLaren's press release.
Stella has 'good news' ahead of 'interesting F1 season'
"I think we’ve seen that the car behaves as expected, which is good news," however, the papaya team did struggle on one lap pace, as stated by Norris following FP2, where both he and teammate Piastri failed to pip Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc to P1 in the end. "Based on what we have seen today, we have some work to do in terms of optimisation but overall, it has been positive."
If the margins experienced in both practice sessions are anything to go by, McLaren can be sure to expect a challenge this season, something Stella is aware of. "I think these first couple of sessions have confirmed the field is, if possible, even tighter than it was in the past, so from a competitive point of view, we look forward to another interesting Formula 1 season,” concluded the McLaren team boss.
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