After rain caused chaos at the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, Lando Norris fears Ferrari is gaining an advantage over McLaren.
It was an extreme day in terms of weather at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with hail falling on the circuit and delaying the opening of the pit lane for FP1, but the session finished with running on dry tyres.
Lando Norris thinks Ferrari are ‘a bit ahead’ of McLaren
Rain returned in FP2 with varying intensity, making the switch between dry and intermediate tyres difficult, and Norris, who had recorded the fastest time in FP1, was last in the standings after two hours of practice.
Such fluctuations demonstrate that the true pecking order was unclear after Friday’s practice sessions, but with both McLaren and Ferrari expected to be favourites to win come the race weekend, Norris believes Ferrari has the advantage.
Asked if he was satisfied with the data McLaren had gathered from Friday’s practice session in Canada, Norris replied: “It’s not enough by any means, but we learned quite a bit… actually, in the dry conditions we didn’t. To be honest, in the dry conditions we didn’t learn enough.”
“we [fewest] I think I did a rap among everyone. [in the dry]…that’s not a good thing, but in wet conditions [we’re] In the right place.
“At the moment, I’m feeling a little unwell. [the pace]Ferrari clearly has a slight lead.
“Conditions are changing so I don’t know where I am at right now. It all depends on whether I’m doing the first lap when the track is at its best or the last lap when the track is at its best, and I have no idea.”
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With changeable weather conditions continuing throughout the race weekend, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admitted that they “may already have the most valuable information” on Friday, despite feeling they knew nothing about pace, tyre behaviour and set-up.
“Both sessions today were affected by rain,” he said, “which meant we didn’t learn much about tyre behaviour, car set-up or even competitiveness.”
“That being said, we may already have the most valuable information, as the situation could be similar for the rest of the weekend.
“So the race was worth it and at least we gave something to the fans who came out to watch today. We just need to stay focused, take what we learned today and prepare for an eventful weekend.”
And Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri said: “The pace and times on the intermediate tyres are [F]”P2 looked solid,” said the Woking-based team, who could do well in qualifying if rain returns as predicted.
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