Lando Norris raises McLaren concern as biggest weakness set for ultimate exposure

Lando Norris has raised concerns that Monza will expose McLaren’s key weakness in chicanes and general low-speed corners at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Norris enters the event full of confidence, with momentum firmly behind him after securing back-to-back victories either side of the summer break in Hungary and the Netherlands.

This has seen him move to within 83 points of championship leader Kimi Antonelli and left many believing that the defending world champion could yet be a title contender once again.

However, Monza is a circuit that is not expected to be as strong for the Woking-based outfit as the recent rounds, largely due to the style of corners.

McLaren has struggled in chicanes and slow-speed corners since the start of the new power-unit regulations, something of which Monza has several.

It is a legendary venue boasting high-speed straights, followed by heavy braking and tight chicanes, with Norris conceding that the papaya squad does not have an immediate fix.

Asked if McLaren has a fix for its chicane and slow speed corner weakness, Norris told select media, including RacingNews365: "No, there’s not a lot we can do, really. 

"It’s just that every car has strengths and weaknesses and is designed in slightly different ways, and ours is just not quite where we want it to be in that style of corner and at that speed. But clearly, we are also able to extract more performance in other types of corners. 

"So it’s just the style of F1 that everyone has kind of strengths and weaknesses. It’s obviously something we acknowledge, which is a good thing, and we’re trying to work on it as quickly as possible. Sometimes things can be quick in F1, sometimes not. 

"So it’s stuff that the whole team is working on back at the factory, and it’s more just that there’s clear acknowledgement that this has been our biggest weakness lately, and we know that we might struggle again here in those styles of corners."

Compromising high-speed performance

McLaren’s real hope of being strong in the slow-speed corners this weekend would be to compromise its top speed.

It is a decision Norris and the team will have to make, although the Briton has recognised that it is not a change which will guarantee an improvement.

"So we’ll see what we can do to maybe compromise a little bit on the high speed to try and get something in the slow speed," added Norris.

"But if it were simple, we would do a lot more of it. So it’s not as simple as simply doing that at the same time. So, yeah, we’ll see. We know it’s a place we have to work on."