Norris balks: "We’re a long, long way off, not a little bit, a long way"

McLaren has started 2022 particularly badly. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, the team was back to square one and looked like a true rearguard team. Lando Norris says according to Motorsportweek.com that the team still has a long way to go to compete for the podiums again.

In the test week in Bahrain, the misery began for McLaren. The team already had to miss Daniel Ricciardo, as he was infected with the coronavirus. As a result, Norris had to drive all the laps for the team, but in total McLaren lost so much important time due to problems with the car, that Norris only narrowly drove the most laps during the second test.

During qualifying for the Bahrain GP, the problems were really apparent. Ricciardo, who had just recovered from COVID-19, did not make it out of Q1 and started at the back of the field. Norris, on P13, did not fare much better than the Australian. In the race, the McLaren drivers fought in the rear, well away from the points. The final result was a fourteenth and fifteenth place due to the late retirements of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

"We’re a long, long way off, not a little bit, a long way. We’ve got to start fresh, figure things out, find solutions," Norris says. The young Briton does not expect the problems to be solved quickly and assumes it could take months for McLaren to get back on its feet.

"We’re a long way down on downforce, the handling is very poor, it’s a tricky car and tricky tyres to optimise," Norris adds. It sounds simple, but is difficult to come up with a solution lets the 22-year-old driver know.