Report: McLaren may have traced Norris’s straight-line-speed problem to the fuel system

RacingNews365 Nederland reported ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix that McLaren may have traced Lando Norris’s recent straight-line-speed problem to the fuel system. The report said the team would introduce solutions at the next race.

Team principal Andrea Stella had earlier said McLaren was still investigating the root cause. He described a straight-line-speed deficit of about 1–2 kph and estimated a lap-time loss of more than a tenth of a second, possibly 0.1–0.2 seconds. Stella said McLaren was not then attributing the issue to the power unit; chassis-side parameters such as drag could also be involved.

Norris estimated the problem had cost him two or three places in each of the previous two qualifying sessions. His margins to Oscar Piastri varied across those sessions: he was 0.308 seconds behind in Baku qualifying and 0.005 seconds ahead in Sepang.

Norris said he was hopeful for Singapore, where he said straight-line speed was a lower priority than at Baku and Sepang. He needed to drive the car before judging how much better it was.