McLaren duo ‘not so confident’ for Austin prospects despite hot F1 streak

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both wary that the team’s performance may not match their recent form in Austin, with the characteristics of the Circuit of The Americas not set to suit the MCL60.

McLaren have been the most-improved team of 2023 as the season has progressed, going from finishing near the back of the field to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scoring a double podium in both Qatar and Japan.

This has led to them surging in the Constructors’ standings, with Aston Martin only 11 points in front of them, but COTA’s layout may not suit their car too well.

McLaren drivers believe slower corners in Austin will not suit their car

While McLaren brought an upgrade with them to Singapore to aid their performance in lower-speed corners, with the MCL60 already performing well at high speed, Norris believes their rivals will be in a good position to reel in the gap this weekend, having admitted they were “almost on par with Red Bull” in Qatar last time out.

“Not so confident,” Norris responded when asked about how he feels about the weekend.

“Just a lot more slow speed corners, which is not our strength. I think it’s tough when you look at it, if we look at Singapore, obviously we were not bad in Singapore, clearly not as strong as Ferrari, but still not a bad race.

“But we know on these types of circuits, Mercedes are going to be very strong, Ferrari are going to be very strong, Aston here in the past have been very strong.

“We knew when we went to Qatar it was going to be a track which really suited us, a lot of medium [and] high-speed [corners], which is where we’re very strong and almost on par with Red Bull.

“Less of that here and a lot more slow speed, so I’m definitely not as confident but nevertheless, I’m not saying it’s going to be a bad weekend.

“I think we can still fight. It’s just going to be a much bigger fight, I think.”

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Piastri agreed with Norris’ sentiment, with the McLaren rookie explaining that the upgrades that others have brought with them to Texas might work in their favour.

“I think when I say we might not be as good as the last couple of weekends, I’m hoping that kind of means we’re in the fight with Ferrari and Mercedes,” Piastri told reporters in Austin.

“I’ve seen Mercedes have got upgrades, so we’ll see what their performance is like. But I think the last couple of weekends we’ve been having stages, we were quick in Qatar, I think we were probably second quickest behind Red Bull and this weekend, I don’t think we will be or, if we are, it’ll be a lot closer with Ferrari and Mercedes.”

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