Norris assesses McLaren upgrades after positive first day in Brazil

Norris topped the opening session in Brazil on Friday. In FP2, the 2025 world champion then set the second-fastest lap time, finishing around two and a half tenths behind Kimi Antonelli.

Asked whether it was an encouraging first day with McLaren's new upgrades, Norris said: "Yeah, I would say so. Certainly, FP1 was a little bit of a surprise, a pleasant surprise. FP2, I think we seem to struggle a little bit more compared to the Mercedes. Just two tenths off on every lap, basically.

"But relative to some of the others, I think we seem pretty good. So the upgrades, even though, like, didn't know I had half and then half, and we're going to put everything together for tomorrow, the upgrades also seem to have given what we hope for, I would say. So I think it's been a good day in terms of getting through the run plan and also a good day for relative performance," he explained.

Over the past few F1 weekends, Norris has explained multiple times that his current McLaren is the hardest car he has ever driven in the competition.

The McLaren driver continued: "I mean, ultimately, the upgrades are there to just bring lap time and bring performance. They're not set out just to improve handling. A perfect upgrade is one that kind of brings lap time and at the same time brings a handling upgrade, especially with how the tricky the car's been.

"So I would say maybe there's a small change in the right direction that it seems just a little bit more straightforward to drive, but I don't think we can ever judge things over just one track, you know. But so far for today, things have seemed a little bit more straightforward, which is a good thing," the Briton concluded.