Lando Norris ended the first day of pre-season atop the charts, besting the time set by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
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McLaren F1 team driver Lando Norris set the fastest time on Day 1 of Formula 1‘s pre-season testing at Barcelona on Wednesday (February 23).
However, the young Brit was quick to tell people not to read too much into the standings. Norris ended the day atop the sheets, besting the time set by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
But he maintained this was down to McLaren simply running on a different plan to others – and not an indicator of the car’s speed.
“I didn’t want to be P1 – if anything I would rather be last,” said Norris after the day’s testing.
“Because now expectations will be so high and everyone thinks we are incredible, but I think we were just on a different run plan to the other people.
Productive day, but annoyed I’m P1. Now you gonna think we fast and waaaaay over hype us. Omegalul pic.twitter.com/ipLHduHpgN
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) February 23, 2022
“I think we will see in the next few days, people will probably go much quicker than what I did. It was still a good day, we learnt a lot of things – I learnt a lot of things.
However, the session did also bring in some cause for concern. Norris’ car stopped at the end of the pit lane in the post-lunch session.
But Norris downplayed that too, saying it was simply a case of first-day rust on his part.
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“A couple of minutes and I was back on track again. You know, it’s early, it’s cold, fingers don’t work properly on the keyboards. No, it’s just first day back at work, couple of problems that’s all.”
Norris was also quizzed on how the new cars for the 2022 season feel. This year’s cars not only look radically different, the new aerodynamic regulations were also expected to ensure cars will handle differently.
But according to the 22-year-old, the cars aren’t that different from their 2021 predecessors.
“I mean honestly, they’re not too different. Of course, people are expecting so many differences! There are definitely some bigger things, some smaller things, some more obvious than others.
“It’s not like this car is going to go 20 seconds slower or 20 seconds faster; it’s going to be fairly similar on pace, [or] a bit slower, because it’s still so early in development.
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He further went on to explain that there were a few differences but nothing unexpected. “It’s is still a Formula 1 car and it’s still going to go just as quick as last year.
“So, things can’t change that much but it’s just a feeling you have, the feelings in the brake pedal, under acceleration and steering, that are different to last year, but not in a surprising way.
“A lot of it was just as expected, waiting to see what happens. But all good things, just trying to make progress for tomorrow,” he concluded.
