Lando Norris is unsure as to what caused the late issue that saw him end Friday practice for the Monaco Grand Prix confined to the McLaren garage. The Briton returned to the pits with just over five minutes remaining of second practice with a suspected power delivery issue but explained: "I think it was some PU issue we have had. I am not too sure what it is yet." The gremlin came at the end of a largely promising day for McLaren after the nightmarish showing at the Miami Grand Prix, with Norris ending the first day in the principality fifth fastest, behind only Max Verstappen's Red Bull, both Ferraris and Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso. "A decent day actually. It is nice to be back here, it is pretty awesome I'm not going to lie," said Norris. "Tricky, a few wall touches and kisses but nothing worse than that. "Positive, the pace looked pretty good actually, we made some good steps between FP1 and FP2 with the set-up and I am definitely getting a bit more confidence which is quite important around here."
McLaren failed to make an impression on the top 10 in Miami but Friday's running in Monaco saw the return of the form that saw both Norris and rookie teammate Oscar Piastri score in Australia. But Norris stressed: "I wouldn't say it is too much of a surprise - not that we expected to be quick here but we just expected everyone to close up even more. "It is the shortest circuit, the least straights which is a good thing for us in a way, but we have always been good here in the last few years. "Just mechanically, the car works very well, we are good in the medium-to-high speed corners. The Swimming Pool section I have had good confidence and was able to go flat early on, which is a good thing. "It is just trying to tweak the slow-speed corners which we are not bad in, it is just difficult. There is a very fine line in between overdoing it, underdoing it and that perfect sweet spot in the middle. "When you can hook it up, it is just about there, it is just very difficult to replicate."
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