McLaren 2020 F1 car has some “quite obvious weaknesses” - Norris

Lando Norris says McLaren has unearthed some “quite obvious weaknesses” in its MCL35 challenger after Formula 1 pre-season testing.

McLaren enjoyed a strong winter test in Barcelona and while it did not light up the timesheets, the Woking squad turned in the third-highest amount of laps behind only Mercedes and Ferrari in the mileage charts.

Although the team is quietly confident after a solid showing, Norris admitted there are some early signs of weaknesses in its latest F1 car that need addressing.

“Considering how close the midfield and racing was last year, if you have any weaknesses, of course it’s a concern,” Norris said.

“Every little thing is something you have to work on. Every team has weaknesses and it’s just about trying to minimise them.

“I think our weaknesses are obvious to us, we’ll work on them, hopefully minimise them and hopefully eventually turn them into a strength.”

McLaren is aiming to build on its fourth place finish in the 2019 constructors’ championship and wants to cement itself as the benchmark of the midfield pack once more this year.

Norris added the team is not yet sure of the “real potential” of the MCL35.

“I don’t think we know the real potential yet, we have a good understanding, there is plenty of things we need to work on,” he explained.

“We have strengths and weaknesses, but the weaknesses are quite obvious to us so we need to work on them before Australia, before we can be very confident in ourselves.

“But there are other things we are confident in, made good progress in over the winter, so I’m reasonably happy with what I could achieve and from what we could achieve as a team.”