McLaren tests its new MCL38 during a shakedown in the rain at Silverstone: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on their first impressions of the new Formula 1 car
After the launch in the morning, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri used one of the two permitted film days over a prescribed maximum distance of 200 kilometers of the 2024 Formula 1 season to test the new McLaren MCL38 on the track at Silverstone
As is usual this year for shakedowns on the traditional circuit, it rained on Wednesday, which is why the McLaren drivers were only on rain tires, making predictions difficult. In addition, they were not on the full track variant, as they shared the circuit with Mercedes, who also presented their new car for the upcoming season on Wednesday morning.
When asked about his initial assessment, Norris said: “It’s hard to say because it was wet. You don’t really get many laps, and that’s on tires that aren’t even the actual tires we use [in the season]. So it’s difficult to compare a lot of things.”
“But the most important thing is that I felt very comfortable straight away,” he adds. “There were no surprises or anything like that, and that I could just push the limit in these small areas. But honestly, there’s not much more to say than that. “
Piastri: “Smooth running” during the shakedown
His team-mate Oscar Piastri, who will start his second Formula 1 season in 2024, also lacks clear references to make a more precise statement: “I think the same. There were no surprises that I noticed, everything felt pretty comfortable and went smoothly, which was good.”
“But yeah, you never really know what you’ve got until you compare it to other people. I think we’ll have to wait a little bit to see what we’ve really got, but for these kind of days it was a smooth process. “
An indication could be the driving feel and lap times in the McLaren simulator at the factory, but Norris waves it away: “The simulator is only ever for development and training and different things. But even there it feels good, but it’s always a completely different thing when you go out on track for the first time in Bahrain, depending on the weather and conditions and all those things.”
“So we’ll have to wait until we get to Bahrain to really understand how they [the cars] will compare,” said the 24-year-old, alluding to the Bahrain tests, which take place in Sachir from February 21-23. The team will be keen to break the trend of recent years, as they have often got off to a slow start to a new season.
