Lando Norris is excited to get back behind the wheel of his MCL34 this weekend and attack the Circuit Paul Ricard in a Formula 1 car for the first time.
After his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, the British racer is hyped up and ready for a return to the driving seat for the French Grand Prix, with the McLaren F1 Team driver eyeing a return to the points for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April.
Norris says the midfield battle has been close in recent races and he expects another tough weekend in France, with the nineteen-year-old knowing he needs a clean weekend if the team are to secure the points they deserve.
“I’m excited to get back racing again after Canada and to experience Ricard in an F1 car for the first time,” said Norris. “The teams in the midfield are really close and we’ve had some good battles over the last few races.
“We know the fight in France will be just as tough and I’ve been doing plenty of work in the factory to prepare for this weekend. As a team we just have to keep giving it our all at every single race as small mistakes can cost us.
“I’ll be focusing on getting up to speed as quickly as I can on Friday. I’ve got previous experience at Ricard having raced in Formula Renault and F2 there.”
Norris’ Canadian race was cut short by a bizarre looking suspension failure, with McLaren now revealing that overheating brakes and a subsequent localised fire was the cause behind the retirement.
“We had high temperatures in the brakes,” a McLaren team spokesman said to Motorsport.com. “That caused a component failure, which basically created a localised fire.
“Because it was in an area where there isn’t any air flow, it didn’t get extinguished, and basically we exceeded the temperatures that carbon can withstand, and effectively that led to the suspension giving way.
“We’re clear about what happened, so it’s not an ongoing issue – it was a singular event.”
