Lando Norris reveals McLaren experiments in Spanish GP practice

Lando Norris has revealed how McLaren experimented with the set-up of its F1 car on a dominant day for the team in Spanish Grand Prix practice.

Norris topped FP1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, besting Max Verstappen by 0.367s, but then fell to fourth place in FP2, setting the exact same time as Verstappen. 

Team-mate Oscar Piastri topped FP2, 0.310s faster than Norris as it appeared the new FIA technical directive had no serious impact the McLaren MCL39. 

Reflecting on the day's running, Norris revealed that as McLaren had arrived with its typically strong baseline set-up, the freedom to experiment with the set-up was afforded to the team. 

"I felt better in FP1 than in FP2, and we were trying things, and will keep trying to improve," he said.

"It is tiny things, and something we always do very well is turning up with a good baseline, but then find it difficult to improve from that point on, which is a good thing. 

"But it just allows us to try some different directions, to try different things and to get a bit of a feel."

Norris goes into the Barcelona weekend three points behind Piastri in the drivers' standings following on from his victory in Monaco last time out.