Lando Norris assesses McLaren upgrades after first day of running in Zandvoort as he makes Mercedes judgement

Lando Norris was satisfied with McLaren’s first day of running a newly-upgraded car at the Dutch Grand Prix, but the Briton believes that Mercedes are likely to be the faster team during the weekend.

Amid mixed weather conditions in FP1 following early rainfall, Norris topped the timesheets as the track dried throughout the session. However, it was George Russell who set the pace for the Silver Arrows in dry but windy weather during FP2, while Norris logged the fourth fastest time.

FP2: Russell leads Piastri and Hamilton in tight second practice at Zandvoort

Reflecting on how he had found the day’s running as F1 returned from its summer break, Norris commented: “Pretty good. Nice to be back in the car. I think Zandvoort’s a tough one to come back to straightaway just because it’s quick and it’s up and down, it’s twisty, a bit of everything.

“So yeah, nice, first day back in the car. A bit of progress needs to be made before tomorrow.”

2024 Dutch GP FP1: Ride onboard with Lando Norris for a lap of Zandvoort with the gyro-cam 

McLaren have added updates to the MCL38 for the event, marking their first significant upgrade package since Norris’s debut Formula 1 victory in Miami back in May.

Asked how he was feeling about the remainder of the weekend in Zandvoort – and if he was expecting the Woking outfit to potentially be the strongest – Norris answered: “Probably not, Mercedes are quicker. It’s close.

FP1: Norris heads Verstappen and Hamilton amid mixed conditions during first practice in Zandvoort

“I don’t think there is a quickest, it just depends on different factors. But we’ve been in good form since Miami, but we’ve not really brought any updates since Miami. This weekend’s our first time trying to make a bit more progress with the car.

“[I’m] optimistic but I have no idea if it’s working or not, or how it’s performing at the minute, but today was a reasonable day and we’re there or thereabouts. A little bit more to find overnight, hopefully, and we can challenge the Mercedes.”

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 23: Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL38 — Piastri – who ended FP2 in second place – is hopeful that McLaren's updates can help them to be "a little bit faster"

Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri gave a similar take on Friday’s running at Zandvoort, with the Australian – who ended FP2 in second place, just 0.061s away from Russell – labelling it “a pretty solid day”.

“FP1 was a little bit tricky, but FP2 looked good,” he explained. “Our one-lap pace looked pretty good – I need to look at our long-run pace, but it looked pretty solid. Mercedes looked quick again, so I’m expecting it to be a pretty hard-fought weekend once again.”

Sharing his thoughts on how the upgraded car had felt out on track, Piastri added: “It was pretty good. It doesn’t feel massively different and it should be a bit faster, hopefully.

“It all went smoothly, all went to plan, and hopefully just makes us a little bit faster from now.”