Lando Norris Identifies ‘Wheelspin’ as Key to Overcoming McLaren’s Persistent Start Issues

Lando Norris suggests a simple solution to address McLaren’s slow starts.

Norris discussed his disappointing beginning at the Dutch Grand Prix and speculated on the underlying cause of the frequent problem.

Lando Norris hinted that a fundamental problem could be behind McLaren's disappointing starts, as the issue resurfaced during the Dutch Grand Prix in Formula 1.

For the sixth time in a row, Norris was unable to maintain his pole position at the start of the race, losing the lead to Red Bull's Max Verstappen before reaching the first corner at Zandvoort.

However, this time it didn't prevent him from winning. The McLaren driver made an impressive comeback, overtaking Verstappen again and ultimately securing a decisive victory by a margin of 22.9 seconds over the Dutchman.

When questioned about enhancing his starts in the future, Norris responded by saying, "Avoid wheelspin."

He continued, saying, "We understand the necessary steps for an ideal start. However, we're dealing with very small margins."

“It appears that since neither of us got it correct, there might be a deeper problem, or something wasn’t as it should have been, or we clearly made a bigger mistake than others did.”

"Oscar excels as one of the top starters on the grid. While I'm pretty good too, I don't quite match his level. I start well, just not quite at the level we need."

"Once more, the race nearly got away from us right from the start. Today was unlike anything we've experienced before. As I mentioned earlier in the weekend, we need to work on being more consistent."

"We've put in the effort to improve, and I believe we've made progress in terms of our processes, but it clearly didn't lead to the right outcome."

Norris mentioned that he stayed "unexpectedly composed" even though he lost the lead at the start.

"Even though I lost position at Turn 1 and had a poor start, I was surprisingly calm," he said.

"Perhaps it's because I'm somewhat accustomed to starting off behind. I'm really ready for situations like that. I remained very calm and thought, 'Alright, what are my next steps?'"

"That was merely to plan ahead and begin conserving tires while assessing my speed."

"But honestly, around Turns 10, 11, 12, and 13, I was able to close the gap on Max a bit more and began to feel quite hopeful that I might actually be able to overtake him on the track."

"I had two chances. The first time, I wasn't close enough. On the next lap, I managed to get in. From that point, I was able to focus."

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