Lando Norris sets eyes on ‘pushing’ McLaren MCL39 in preseason testing

Lando Norris was excited to drive the McLaren MCL39 during preseason testing ahead of the season-opener in Melbourne.

Lando Norris sets eyes on ‘pushing’ McLaren MCL39 in preseason testing

Lando Norris (via Planetf1)

Lando Norris and McLaren emerged as title contenders in 2024. The 25-year-old put a real fight against Max Verstappen, but could not defeat the Red Bull star. Now, the British driver is looking maximize his running at pre-season testing.

Norris drove the afternoon session on day 1 in Bahrain. His teammate, Oscar Piastri had the MCL39 in the morning. Lando Norris completed 52 laps over the course of the session and put in the fastest lap of the day. Albeit, lap times are not relevant in testing as the fuel loads of cars remains a mystery.

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Lando Norris was satisfied after his on-track running. The British driver asserted that he wants to push the 2025 car more in the coming days. He revealed that the team experimented with various things during the first day to better understand its new challenger.

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I’m looking forward to pushing the car a bit more over the next couple of days… we tried quite a few different things and it was really nice to be back on track.

Lando Norris said, as quoted by GPBlog

Lando Norris sends big shoutout to McLaren crew

F1 teams work nonstop over the winter in preparations for the upcoming season. McLaren had more pressure this time around after winning the constructors’ title in 2024. Lando Norris thanked the entire crew back at Woking for getting everything right in place for the Bahrain preseason test.

Lando Norris and Zak Brown
Lando Norris and Zak Brown (via IMAGO)

It’s nice to be back in the car! A big shout-out to the team for getting everything ready and prepared for today.

Lando Norris added

Certainly, Lando Norris is positive after day 1 in Bahrain. The 25-year-old hopes to finally bag his maiden F1 world title this year, after coming close the previous season. However, things will not be easy for Norris, against the likes of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and even Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. As such, it remains to be seen how things pan out in the coming days.