Lando Norris doubts McLaren’s Monza pace after difficult practice

Norris left searching for performance

Lando Norris has found little encouragement for a third consecutive Formula 1 victory at Monza after two unsettled practice sessions ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion finished fourth in FP2, 0.384 seconds behind Mercedes’ George Russell, while McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri was sixth. More concerning for Norris was the team’s relative lack of speed against the works Mercedes, particularly in areas where McLaren had expected to be competitive.

“Not very decent, just struggling a lot more with pace,” Norris said. “To be honest, in the corners we expected to be good at, we’re bad. And the corners we expected to be bad at, we’re not so bad at, but we’re still off. So, we’re not in a great place at the minute. We’ll see what we can do overnight.”

McLaren’s Friday picture was not simply a matter of cornering performance. GPS traces indicated that Norris and Piastri were primarily losing time to Russell on the straights, pointing to a deficit that could involve the MCL40’s aerodynamic efficiency and its battery-deployment profile. Norris also appeared to be giving up almost a tenth of a second through the fast Variante Ascari chicane, a section expected to suit McLaren.

By contrast, the team was able to remain close to Russell through the slower first and second chicanes, despite those not generally being strengths of McLaren’s 2026 car. The competitive order therefore remains unsettled, but McLaren’s baseline is not yet where Norris needs it to be. A Friday recap from Monza provides further analysis of the opening-day pace picture.

Ferrari adds pressure as McLaren works overnight

Ferrari also emerged as a serious threat, with Charles Leclerc taking second in FP2 as the team introduced an improved power unit and track-specific aerodynamic updates.

Norris, who arrives after wins in Hungary and the Netherlands, acknowledged the challenge ahead: “It’s going to be tougher than before, for sure. It’s close between a lot of the guys at the top. The guys behind are not that far behind either, so they can easily surprise us.”

He added that he did not feel McLaren was currently fighting for pole, instead prioritising “a decent result.”

H-Wing meets expectations

McLaren technical director Neil Houldey said the new rotating rear-wing concept, known as the H-Wing, had performed as expected. The team was reasonably pleased with the car’s balance between high- and low-speed sections, but remained around three-tenths from its target.

The immediate priority is energy management. McLaren still sees lap time in improved harvesting and deployment, while the H-Wing is expected to add performance through the remainder of the weekend. The task is clear: recover the final fractions required to bring Norris and Piastri back into contention.