Norris addresses ‘glorious’ McLaren advantage ahead of F1 title showdown

Lando Norris has stated the “glorious” advantage held by McLaren on the opening day of running in Abu Dhabi may be wiped out on Saturday.

Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri ended the second practice session in the leading two positions.

McLaren enters the weekend looking to seal its first constructors' championship in 26 years with Ferrari being its sole competitor.

Its quest got off to a strong start as Norris held a gap of almost half a second to the next non-McLaren challenger at the end of FP2, which happened to be Haas' Nico Hulkenberg in third place.

However, Norris conceded its direct rivals will likely turn up on Saturday with more pace.

“It’s been a good day, the car has been feeling good the whole day,” Norris said. 

“So we continued our pace out of Qatar. I feel strong, there are definitely some things to improve on in both the low and high fuel.

“More so the high fuel. It certainly looks better than it is, I don't think of the others turned up their engines yet, so it might look glorious for now, but I think we're still going to have a tough fight tomorrow.”

While Norris conceded McLaren has improvements to come, he insisted they can be discovered through minor findings.

“It's small things,” he said. It's just trying to find the balance of going quicker, by saving the tyres. 

“Especially in the longer run stuff - where can you push more and where can you save?

“Things I can change on my steering wheel and the underlying balance of the car, so just trying to find the right compromise is the main thing.”

McLaren's chances of taking the constructors' championship have taken a step forward with Charles Leclerc being issued a 10-place grid penalty for the race.