Lando Norris addresses surprise threat to McLaren's F1 domination

Lando Norris has addressed the surprise threat Aston Martin is posing to McLaren after Friday of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Although Norris topped both sessions at Zandvoort upon F1's return from the summer break, Aston pair Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were each classified in the top three in the respective sessions. 

Stroll was third in FP1, behind Norris and Oscar Piastri, but Alonso went one better in the afternoon, splitting the title rivals and finishing 0.087s behind Norris. 

Aston proved faster than usual McLaren-chasers Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes throughout the day, as Norris spoke warmly of the package Aston has started to produce after a slow start to the year.

"The lap-times we were doing today were not far off my pole from last year [which was a 1:09.673].

"The car was handling well. I felt like we made some good improvements from FP1 to FP2, but at the same time, it seemed like others caught up more than we would like.

"Even the Astons and Fernando were quick in FP1 and FP2, so it was a good start, but certainly a bit closer than what we'd like for the time being.

"Aston are never that far off in FP2; they've quite often and consistently been decent in FP2, and they've been getting better. Even in Budapest, they were pretty quick.

"So it is not a big surprise at the moment that they look the quickest, but Max is also certainly not far off, and he was on a harder tyre, which was not quite as good.

"Red Bull and Ferrari seemed to struggle today, but they are normally like that and then fine on Saturday, so let's just focus on ourselves and see what happens."

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Norris on McLaren's learnings

When then asked about McLaren's learnings, Norris felt the forecasted rain could still have a major impact on qualifying and the race. 

"We got a good understanding, but maybe not everything we wanted, but I doubt everyone got what they wanted," Norris explained.

"We will make do with what we got, good information, but there are still plenty of things to look into and try to improve, both in low-fuel and high-fuel, but the conditions are [tricky].

"It could rain [for qualifying] and there is a chance on Sunday."