Lando Norris was pleased to return to driving duties in a Formula 1 car at the Hungaroring on Tuesday as he completed one hundred and six laps for the McLaren F1 Team, a year after his very first official test for the team.
The current FIA Formula 2 racer finished fifth fastest of the ten drivers that took to the track on day one of the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test, and he was able to complete a good number of runs and give some feedback to the team
“It was really enjoyable to get back in the car today, especially as it’s one year since I first made my debut,” said Norris. “The first three-quarters of the day were obviously really good.
“I did a lot of testing; quite a few aero runs but at the same time a good amount of proper runs, so I had a good feeling for the car – until it rained! That put us back a bit, so there are some things we’ll need to carry on testing tomorrow.”
The rain meant that Norris experienced driving a Formula 1 car in the rain, but he revealed that he had expected it to be more trickier than it was, and after the wet weather at the Hungaroring over the weekend while racing in Formula 2, he was able to get a good idea about the differences between the two categories.
“It’s the first time I’ve driven a Formula 1 car in the rain, so it was good to feel the difference from F2 to F1 in the wet,” said Norris. “It was still tricky, but I thought it would be a lot trickier because of how much more horsepower you have in F1.
“At the same time, you have a lot more grip than in Formula 2, so it’s just on another level, in a similar way to how it is in the dry. Cornering speeds and braking performance are much better than you’d expect in the rain, so I had more confidence than I thought I was going to have. I was a bit nervous before I went out because it got properly wet very quickly!
“I had a good feeling even in the wet, but then it dried out very quickly. I’ve experienced basically everything today weather-wise, and did 107 laps, so that’s really positive.”
