According to Crash.net, Lando Norris is heading into this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix genuinely hopeful that McLaren has uncovered the root cause of the baffling speed loss that completely derailed his recent Formula 1 outings. The reigning world champion has endured a punishing stretch, struggling for raw pace in both Azerbaijan and Malaysia where he could only manage to qualify fifth at each round. That lack of pace bled into the results too, with Norris wiped out in a multi-car crash in Baku before finishing a lowly ninth in Bahrain after making a late mistake.
The core of the disaster has been a brutal, "painful" straight-line speed deficit that has been bleeding roughly two-tenths of a second per lap out of his machine. But speaking in Thursday's pre-event driver press conference, Norris indicated that the squad has dug deep to understand why the car has been dropping off compared to earlier strong rounds like Budapest, Zandvoort, and Madrid. The team has been flat out.
While keeping the exact technical specifics close to his chest, the Briton confirmed that the glaring straight-line speed troubles were front and center in their post-race analysis. Certain circuit characteristics have undoubtedly exacerbated the issue. Norris pointed out that it is not merely a Malaysia problem, though the roughness of the tarmac there certainly played a part, noting that Baku was not particularly kind to them either.
Thankfully, the upcoming venue places far less emphasis on straight-line performance. It is a track Norris has genuinely enjoyed and where they have been pretty good over the last few years. Even so, he was quick to emphasize that the outfit has still been underperforming relative to the level they demand of themselves, admitting that two or three grid positions were routinely thrown away in recent qualifyings due to the deficit.
When asked directly if he feels hopeful that a cure has been found for the issues affecting his MCL40, Norris kept his feet firmly on the ground while acknowledging the immense effort behind the scenes. We just need to get on track first and see how much better it is, he noted, adding that it is always a brutal psychological blow when you exit corners better only to watch rivals pull away on the straights. Confidence in the factory's grueling hours remains high, but the stopwatch on Friday will tell the real story.
