Lando Norris believes learning from past race strategy call errors in 2024 helped to secure victory for McLaren at the F1 Australian GP.
Lando Norris and McLaren were imperious in Melbourne, the underlying pace of the MCL39 showing despite the treacherous conditions.
With the weather changing constantly throughout the race, making the right strategy call at the right time became critical.
Historically a problem area for McLaren in recent years, the team and Norris stayed calm and made measured decisions.
This included avoiding the barriers when he ventured into the gravel during a rain shower, and showing proactive understanding of conditions.
Speaking in Parc Ferme after the race, Norris said learning from the mistakes of 2024 was critical to securing victory at the Australian GP.
“We got it wrong a lot last year, so I guess we learned from our mistakes. We lost out on Silverstone and Canada through a race like this. So, we’ve just learned from our mistakes, I think.
“It’s still only around one of 24, but dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, dealing with Oscar behind me, I was pushing the whole way through. I could relax inside, but I wasn’t relaxing from how much I was pushing.
“A tough one, so to not make overly too many mistakes, to not have a mistake that cost me anything, I guess I could take a little bit of credit for that.
“A tough challenging race, but I mean for McLaren, I need to give a big thanks because they’ve given me an amazing car. So, I have to start with them.”
Lando Norris on withstanding Verstappen pressure
In the final laps of the race, Norris withstood immense pressure from reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
Instead of making mistakes and opening the door to his rival, he kept calm and had an answer for the searing pace of the Dutchman.
When asked how he coped with Verstappen’s relentless attacks, he said he was focused on his own driving.
“Just drive, I guess,” he said.
“I mean, Max was quick. I knew I had, like, good pace, but I made one mistake in Turn 6 and he got within the DRS – and the DRS around here is probably like a second or something.
“So, that allowed him to keep staying within that second and have a couple of like little looks.
“And I had to check my mirror a few more times than what I would have liked, but I stayed calm and I kept it together and I listened to Will [Joseph, Norris’s engineer who had warned him not to overdrive on the final lap], so that’s the most important thing.”
Feature Image Credit: @McLarenF1 on X
