Lando Norris says he is starting to feel “more prepared” for his Formula 1 debut, having set the quickest time on day five of winter testing for the McLaren F1 Team.
Norris displaced Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly from top spot on Tuesday, the first day of the final 2019 winter test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with a best time of a 1 minute 17.709 seconds.
However Norris stopped twice on-track in less encouraging news for McLaren, once in the morning session with a hydraulic pressure issue and finally in the final 15 minutes of the day’s running.
The young Brit still managed a pleasing total of 80 laps despite the setbacks and says he’s ready to use Thursday as his final preparations for the season-opening Grand Prix in Australia next month.
“Overall, I’m feeling more prepared,” said Norris.
“I now have one last session in the car on Thursday, to finalise everything before Australia.”
“On the whole today was a good day, although we didn’t get to do quite as much running as we wanted.”
Former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso was present at his home circuit on Tuesday to track the team’s progress, and Norris believes that McLaren’s long-run pace has improved from last week.
He stressed that McLaren must continue in that same direction for the remainder of the week.
“We’ve improved the car slightly since last week, especially on the longer runs, so we’re going in the right direction, which is positive,” Norris continued.
“It’s important that we keep doing that.”
Team-mate and fellow new signing Carlos Sainz Jr. will take over driving duties on Wednesday and Friday.
