Lando Norris reveals McLaren issue behind being F1 testing delay

Lando Norris has revealed that it was a "small chassis issue" that caused a delay to his running on Friday afternoon in Bahrain.

McLaren discovered an issue with its MCL40 following Oscar Piastri's running on the final morning of pre-season testing, which impacted Norris.

The reigning world champion was not seen until two hours had already passed in the afternoon session, putting pressure on Norris to gather substantial data quickly.

In the end, the Briton completed 47 laps, the best of which was a 1m 32.871. Crucially, he did perform a very strong practice start at the end of the afternoon session, suggesting McLaren has discovered how to best launch off the line.

Overall, it has been a largely positive test for McLaren, although Norris also confirmed that the afternoon programme was not completed due to the issue.

"A good final day in Bahrain," said Norris. "We found a small chassis issue on the car at lunchtime, which meant our running in the afternoon was delayed. 

"As a result, we didn't get the full race simulation we had planned done, but we were still able to get some important track time, especially with the practice start at the end. 

"Overall, it's been a solid nine days of testing, and we have learned a lot about these new regulations of cars and how to extract performance from them, especially around the new power units.

"A huge thank you to the team for all of their work, which has meant we have set ourselves up well for Australia. I am excited to get racing."