Lando Norris hails ‘fun’ and productive day after pace-setting return to action for McLaren in Bahrain test

Lando Norris described a “good, fun day” for McLaren after setting the pace at the start of pre-season testing around the Bahrain International Circuit.

Norris posted a best time of 1m 30.430s on a chilly and windy day in the Sakhir desert to finish 0.157s quicker than Mercedes rival George Russell and another tenth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

It comes as McLaren look to do the Teams’ Championship double, having last year ended a drought stretching back to 1998, while Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri push for the squad’s first Drivers’ Championship since 2008.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 26: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL39 — Norris started the pre-season period on top as McLaren bid for more title glory

“It’s nice to be back in the car!” Norris said following his afternoon session aboard the MCL39. “A big shout-out to the team for getting everything ready and prepared for today.

“It was a good, fun day on track, and we progressed through a lot of the tests that we wanted to do. I’m looking forward to pushing the car a bit more over the next couple of days.”

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Piastri, who was in action in the morning, added: “So, the first day in the MCL39 is done. Thank you to everyone in the team for getting us ready for today.

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“It was a productive morning for me, as we tried quite a few different things and it was really nice to be back on track.

“We still have many more areas to cover in the coming days to keep putting the car through its paces and to see how it works, but overall, a solid day.”

Pre-season testing continues in the Sakhir desert on Thursday, with McLaren again splitting their running between Piastri in the morning and Norris in the afternoon.