Lando Norris sends ominous Belgian GP message with watchful eye on ‘very quick’ Red Bull

McLaren driver Lando Norris has teased that there is still more to come from him at the Belgian Grand Prix despite setting the pace in FP2 at Spa.

Just days after the team secured only their second one-two finish since 2010 in Hungary, McLaren were the class of the field in the second practice session in Belgium.

Lando Norris not ‘super comfortable’ despite storming Belgian GP display

Norris set the pace with a fastest lap of 1:42.260, more than two tenths faster than team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen, the reigning World Champion, was marginally slower than Piastri in FP2 after topping the timesheets in opening practice earlier on Friday, but the Red Bull driver will take a 10-place grid penalty at Spa for taking a new engine.

Although McLaren appear to be strong favourites to win at Spa, Norris warned that Red Bull are looking “very quick” at this stage.

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And despite his fearsome pace, the Miami Grand Prix winner said that he didn’t feel “very comfortable” on track on Friday, with Norris hoping to get into a better rhythm ahead of qualifying.

Assessing his day, he said: “Good. Still tough, still close.

“Red Bull are very quick at the minute, so tricky. But I just haven’t felt very comfortable today with the car, so hopefully I just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable with it.

“We’re trying to improve a few things. I know it looked good on the timesheets but I’ve not felt super comfortable in just going out and doing it.

“So hopefully I can just get in a bit more of a rhythm and feel a bit better out there.”

Asked if he has any idea to make his feeling with the car better for Saturday, Norris hinted only minor tweaks are required.

“Not at the minute, because I just got out of the car two seconds ago,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s a lot [that’s required]. We’re always able to come to a circuit now and be within a few millimetres of margin straightaway.

“It’s not like you ever really change the whole car overnight anymore. If you do, you haven’t done a good enough job before the weekend.

“So we’ve prepared well and we’ve got a good setup on the car and it’s working, but just from my side – just feeling like I can go out and nail it – I’m not quite there just yet.”

Wet conditions are expected to arrive on Saturday at Spa, where Norris crashed heavily in a a rain-affected session in 2021.

Norris hinted McLaren are likely to pursue a high-downforce setup to cope with the rain, with the team already nudging in that direction regardless of the weather forecast.

He said: “Downforce questions [will arise].

“Of course, generally for the rain you want to edge towards the higher downforce and I think that’s maybe the direction to go in anyway.

“But I don’t know just yet, so I’ll sit down with my guys and we’ll talk about it.”

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