World champion Lando Norris has urged McLaren to keep improving across all areas of their car despite showing signs of progress since a difficult season opener in Australia.
Norris finished fifth in Melbourne, over 51 seconds behind race winner George Russell, who led a Mercedes one-two ahead of both Ferraris. The defending champion had been openly critical all weekend of the new generation of cars, which feature a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power, calling them arguably the worst the sport had produced.
Ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Norris sounded a more measured note, saying the team expects to be closer to the front and that lessons learned from Melbourne would have helped even if they returned to the same circuit. He was clear, however, that work remains on both the power unit and the car itself.
Teammate Oscar Piastri had an even worse time in Australia, crashing into the barriers on the formation lap before the race had even begun. The Australian, who won in Shanghai last year, acknowledged it was far from his finest moment but drew comfort from the fact that he is only two points worse off than he was at the same stage last season.
