Lando Norris says he is still looking for more performance from his McLaren despite setting the pace in both Friday practice sessions for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as his title rival tries to close the gap.
In FP1, Norris beat Max Verstappen by just 0.008 seconds, while Oscar Piastri sat out the session for Pato O’Ward to complete another mandatory outing. In the second practice session, Norris extended his lead to more than 0.3 seconds, but despite that margin, the championship leader is not completely satisfied with his daily work.
“Obviously things are good at that time… but we still want to get a little more out of the car,” said Norris. Not quite happy, not quite confident – we’re a bit busy trying some different things and trying to understand some things with the car.
“Hopefully so [there is] We can still get some things out of it from one day to the next, but it certainly wasn’t a bad day. It was a positive day, but we always know it’s getting closer to qualifying, so there’s nothing to smile about yet.”
Norris doesn’t believe the extra practice session over Piastri will give him any advantage this weekend, and his teammate wasn’t afraid to be 0.6 seconds behind given his lack of FP1 runs.
“I think I got there pretty well on the medium [tire]“On the soft surface I didn’t get the most out of the grip on that first timed lap,” said Piastri. “So finding my feet, I guess. There are obviously some things we need to try and improve for tomorrow, but I think after just one session it won’t be too bad.
“I think it’s more about small details. The car feels like it’s in a pretty good place. Again, I just couldn’t get the grip out of it on that first soft lap. So a few minor adjustments… Of course it didn’t feel perfect there, but nothing major.”
With another practice session scheduled for Saturday, Piastri – who must overcome a sixteen-point deficit to become world champion – is confident in his chances in qualifying.
“I think pretty well [chance of chasing pole position]. I thought the cars looked fast. I just need to do a few more laps and find my groove, really, that’s all,” he said. “So yeah, a few more laps tomorrow, a few more sets of tires, hopefully we’ll be there.”
Verstappen was quite happy with his Red Bull both during the day and in the evening, but knows that he and the team will have to make progress to be able to compete against the McLarens at pace. Guido De Bortoli/Getty Images
Verstappen has to close a gap of twelve points and finished second behind Norris in both sessions, but the Dutchman thinks his Red Bull is driving well and just lacks speed.
“Pretty okay [two sessions]’, said Verstappen. ‘I was quite satisfied with the car. We probably just need to be a little faster. I think it’s still not fast enough. But I think overall we’ve been in a decent period here.
“It seems like it’s quite a gap that we have to close, but from our side we will just try to bring the best car forward. Let’s see how many we can find overnight… Single lap and long term [pace] must be better.”
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