The Fernando Alonso factor aiding Lando Norris cause

The right-hand man to Lando Norris feels that his previous working relationship with Fernando Alonso provided him with the ideal learning ground ahead of operating with the British driver.

Will Joseph has been the voice in Norris' ear since they were paired together at a pre-season test ahead of the 25-year-old's rookie season in 2019.

Joseph has been with McLaren for almost two decades, working his way up to the role of performance engineer before moving on to become race engineer during Alonso's second stint with the team from 2015-2018, and then the year after with Norris.

Despite his own experience over his years with McLaren before joining forces with Alonso, Joseph knows he learned from the 43-year-old, which stood him in good stead before working with Norris.

"Fernando was my first driver as a race engineer," said Joseph, speaking to RacingNews365. "Now, Fernando was already a world champion. He was already a fantastic driver.

"For me, it was very good that, as a newbie race engineer, I had someone of such high experience that I could benefit more from him than the other way around.

"Then I could take that learning and understanding to Lando, who was a rookie and needed things very differently. Like I say, having someone with that experience meant I could develop myself a lot in preparation for a different driver where the requirements are different.

"With Lando, I was the lead, whereas before it was the other way around, and yes, it's massively different. Drivers change through their careers. From Lando as a rookie to Lando now, it's a very different interaction.

"There are some core fundamentals that have stayed the same, but we've had to develop and evolve through that period."

A holistic view with Norris

The difference in roles between a performance engineer and a race engineer "varies from team to team", according to Joseph.

At McLaren, Joseph said a race engineer "is fundamentally responsible for the car" and is effectively "the conductor of the orchestra".

He added: "They have engineers underneath them, and you're trying to get each engineer to get the most for your driver and the car.

"The race engineer is responsible for the car setup, run plans, tyre usage, all the communications with the driver, the administration that goes around having a driver, factory days, time we're out at the track, et cetera, et cetera."

As for a performance engineer, that person is "on the shoulder of the driver in the car".

Joseph said: "They should be able, from the data, to understand exactly what's going on with the car. If anything, they have more understanding of the very details of what's going on with the car than the race engineer does.

"I'm in a more holistic role. I take that input, the input from other people and put it together to make changes. The performance engineer is really into the nitty-gritty of every tiny bit of oversteer, every bit of under-rotation we see on the car.

"They're narrowed down on that focus, where I'm looking wider at the bigger picture."

The "hardest bit" with Norris

The one area of difficulty for Joseph is ensuring he has an emotional attachment to Norris, given the nature of their relationship.

Norris has to rely on every shred of information he is being supplied by Joseph throughout a race weekend, and during a grand prix especially, and then act on it accordingly.

Joseph concedes, however, that as someone with a degree in aerothermal and aerospace engineering, finding that connection has not come easily.

"I'm a trained engineer," said Joseph. "I'm good at squiggly lines, I'm good at maths and stuff like that.

"One of the biggest roles of a race engineer is to be emotionally attached to the driver. That's something that we're not necessarily good at or trained in. It's the hardest bit.

"In that case, every driver wants to be, and needs to be treated very differently. How you interact with one driver is very different from another. I think that is the biggest thing about different drivers.

"Drivers will have different preferences in how they set the car up, how they want the balance. Learning how to get the most from each driver is, I think, where we can add a lot of benefit.

"But it's also the bit that we're the most untrained for as engineers."