Norris says McLaren has pace in Austin, but MCL40 remains hard to drive
Conceptual AI-generated editorial motorsport illustration; not a documentary photograph or evidence that a pictured event, meeting or transfer occurred. · 2026-10-24GPBeat newsroom · News Made Clear generated illustration
Norris said the MCL40's handling made McLaren's speed difficult to extract consistently after Friday practice; Rob Marshall said the team's small upgrade had delivered a measurable gain.
Lando Norris says McLaren has pace in Austin, but the MCL40 remains difficult to drive consistently, making that speed hard to show in Friday's second practice. He said the car had been difficult to drive for a long time and that getting it to be quick required near-perfect execution.
Norris finished seventh in FP2, 1.082 seconds behind session leader Charles Leclerc; Oscar Piastri was eighth, just 0.014 seconds further back. Handling problems made it difficult for McLaren's drivers to put together representative laps.
McLaren chief technical officer and chief designer Rob Marshall offered a more upbeat assessment. He said the team's small upgrade package had delivered a measurable benefit and believed McLaren could still fight its main rivals on Saturday. He also pointed to a competitive FP2 lap that the team did not finish after a mistake.
Norris hopes small overnight set-up adjustments will make the car easier to drive and help McLaren use its speed more consistently over the rest of the weekend.
Sources 01
- PRIMARY SOURCEWhy Norris found it 'very difficult' to maximise the McLarenFormula 1
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