Lando Norris had an impressive day at Zandvoort, finishing fourth and third in both Free Practice sessions respectively. Norris will be hoping that the team can close the gap to the BWT Alpine F1 Team, as they look to take control back of the battle for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
The British drivers believes that the track suits the car, and he will be hoping that they can take this momentum into the rest of the weekend.
“A reasonable day. I think with the different type of track we’re a little bit more back in line with where we’ve been in general – closer to the front, back in the midfield pack”
Norris will be hoping to add another podium to his season total of one, but that will be hard with the pace of the front runners.
“There are some positives. The car is handling reasonably well both in low fuel and high fuel. I think we’re in an okay position. It’s still close, both in front of us and behind us but if we can squeeze a bit more out of the car overnight, into qualifying tomorrow, then we can give ourselves a good chance of scoring decent points on Sunday.”
As well as having a good day on the track, off it the Brit discovered that his 2023 team-mate will be 2021 Formula 2 World Champion Oscar Piastri, after the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board decided that the Aussie’s contract with McLaren was both legitimate and legal.
Daniel Ricciardo: “It was a good day for the team”
McLaren F1 team’s Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a much improved first day of the Dutch Grand Prix, as he finished fifth and tenth respectively in both Free Practice sessions on Friday. The Australian could have been further up the pack in the second session, similarly to the first, but an issue with his car limited his running.
Ricciardo was pleased to get back in the MCL36, and believes the team had a good day overall.
“It was nice to be back on the track, it’s a good time for sure. It was fun. Unfortunately, we lost a bit of track time due to an oil leak in FP2, however looking at Lando’s pace, it was promising.”
The Australian driver is hoping for a good qualifying session tomorrow, as he looks to end his McLaren career on a high.
We made a few changes for FP2 and it looks like that’s worked, so we’ll have confidence going in that direction overnight. It’s just a case of putting the lap together, which I’m confident of tomorrow. All in all, I think it was a good day for the team and we’ll just clean it up tonight.”
