McLaren starts analysed with where Lando Norris ‘seemed to go wrong’ identified

Seemingly wheel-spinning in Zandvoort as he moved from first to second gear, Anthony Davidson believes that’s the moment where it “seemed to go wrong” for the pole-sitter.

Lining up first having beaten Max Verstappen to pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris appeared to throw it all away as he once again made a bad start and lost a position.

McLaren’s starts billed their ‘chink in the armour’

Although his reaction off the line was timed almost to the same nth degree as Verstappen’s, Norris didn’t have the same smooth getaway as the Red Bull driver and was P2 into the first corner.

He managed to stick to Verstappen’s rear wing and on lap 18 overtook the Dutch driver to lead at Zandvoort before putting 23 seconds between them to claim an emphatic victory.

But in the pursuit of glory, and maybe even a championship trophy given they’re only 30 points behind Red Bull with nine races remaining, McLaren once again have to answer questions about Norris’ poor start.

Former F1 driver Davidson believes it is more a McLaren problem than a Norris one.

“Obviously, different teams take on the starts differently,” said the Sky F1 pundit. “It’s a combination of the drivers and I’ve analysed this.

“Riding on board with Lando, it looked like he had his throttle position in the right place. The initial launch, so when he released the clutch pedal, it looked like the initial getaway was ok, so it means that driver procedure was okay for those two factors.

“But then it seemed to go wrong once he shifted into second gear and you start to apply more throttle and by that point of course you’ve fully released the clutch.

“So, it is somewhere in that area I think it keeps going wrong for McLaren, slash/stroke Lando.

“But in that particular race, he did get, I would say, if anything, a slightly better start than Piastri.”

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👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Dutch Grand Prix

But in a season in which McLaren realistically have a chance at fighting for the Constructors’ Championship, perhaps even the Drivers’ title, Davidson fears their starts are their chink in the armour.

Going on to speak about the pressure on the start strategists to find the perfect “clutch bite point”, he added: “I think that race, because you had such a variant of conditions and the lack of time to make a decision what you do with all of this software behind the scenes, that’s what makes it difficult for the teams to really perfect the start.

“But with all that aside, it does seem to be a little bit of a chink in the armour for McLaren. And if you’re going to fight a team like Red Bull for the championship through to the end of the year, you’re going to need to damn well make sure you perfect as many things as you can.

“They have got great pit stops, great speed, great reliability, two great drivers, loads of ticks of the boxes.

“The start is the thing that keeps raising an eyebrow or two, not just for us watching, but probably from the team as well. And if they can get that right, then you’re going to solidify.

“This amazing job that the team keep doing in qualifying by managing to out-qualify Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, it’s an amazing achievement. You can’t afford to keep throwing that achievement away.”

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