McLaren reveals ‘adjustments’ to MCL39 to boost Norris’ comfort

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has revealed that the team has made specific “adjustments” to the MCL39 in a bid to help Lando Norris feel more at ease behind the wheel of this season’s car.

Despite leading the drivers' championship by a slender margin over Max Verstappen, Norris has expressed concerns about the unpredictability of the 2025 McLaren challenger since the season began.

Stella addressed the issue during Friday’s press conference in Bahrain, acknowledging that Norris has struggled with a particular element of the car’s behavior that has made it difficult for him to fully extract performance in all conditions.

“I think on Lando’s side, there’s especially a particular phase of driving the car that doesn’t make him entirely comfortable,” Stella explained. “I think we’ve achieved a very good understanding of what that is.

“It would be inappropriate to share the details, but let me say that even for this race, we’ve made some adjustments to the car – going back to some solutions that we think may improve the predictability of the car in relation to Lando’s driving input.”

The Bahrain weekend, with its unique track characteristics and scorching daytime conditions, presents an ideal testing ground for these changes.

“So it’s actually an interesting weekend even from this point of view, and we look forward to seeing what we will learn.”

Piastri Growing in Confidence on Saturdays

Meanwhile, Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri has demonstrated noticeable growth in qualifying, reversing a trend from last year where he was heavily outgunned by Norris on Saturdays.

In 2024, Norris led the head-to-head qualifying battle 20-4, but this season, Piastri has narrowed the gap and shown flashes of potentially superior one-lap pace, as his scorching lap in Saturday’s final practice – which outpaced Norris by 0.688s – aptly demonstrated.

“I think we see that Oscar is just more confident in qualifying,” Stella said. “He’s just more capable of putting things together.

“I think he has more awareness, which comes with experience, which comes with all the analysis that has been going on during the winter. So we see a stronger Oscar, like we see, as usual, a very strong Lando.”

A Dynamic Duo Driving Progress

Beyond individual performances, Stella emphasized the symbiotic relationship between Norris and Piastri as a key factor in McLaren’s competitiveness.

“Coming back to the competitiveness of McLaren, what I see – and I still look at quite a lot of telemetry myself – is two drivers that push each other and pick from each other,” he said.

“If you see Free Practice 1, they’re almost complementary as to where they go fast and slow. So they can see quite a lot of opportunities."

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This synergy allows the drivers to learn from each other’s strengths, with telemetry revealing how their approaches dovetail to uncover performance gains.

Stella views this collaboration as transformative for McLaren’s fortunes.

“And then I see the synergy. And the synergy means an elevation of the game. So for me, if anything, that’s what I see has mostly changed compared to the past,” he remarked.

While car development plays a role, Stella credits the drivers’ ability to elevate each other as a cornerstone of McLaren’s progress.

“We can see it as car performance, but for me it’s a combination of car performance and what the drivers are able to achieve, elevating their own games,” he concluded.

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