McLaren pleased with F1 shakedown as Lando Norris tops opening day
Lando Norris has set the fastest time in the opening day of the Formula 1 pre-season shakedown in Barcelona.
Lando Norris during a McLaren filming day. (McLaren Racing)
Teams had the first day of official running in the new era of F1 cars, with Norris setting the best lap time of 1:19.568 in his 101 laps.
James Key, McLaren's Executive Director, Technical, said McLaren had a positive start to the 2022 season, but was not paying attention to the timing screen.
"After two years in the design process, it’s great to finally see the MCL36 on track, alongside all of the other new cars."
"It’s remarkable how many laps have been completed by teams today, considering how new these cars are, and how much there is to learn."
"It’s good to see F1 getting winter testing off to such a positive start."
Norris ran the entire day of testing for McLaren, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo to take the reigns in day two.
McLaren’s 2022 F1 car on-track during a filming session. (McLaren Racing)
"I'm really happy to be back behind the wheel," said Norris.
"It’s nice to be in the car again and get to push the limit."
"It’s been good for me to get used to this new car, because I’ve driven the same regulations for my whole F1 career."
"It’s nice to have a change and it was a productive day."
"We learned a lot of things for the team, and we got all the information we wanted to."
"We can now compare it back to the simulator and the wind tunnel."
"A good day, and a good start to this test."
Ferrari was the second-fastest team on the opening day of the shakedown, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz splitting the duties and finishing second and third fastest.
Mercedes also split the sessions with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth and fifth, the third fastest in the team order.
Classification after day one of the Formula 1 pre-season shakedown in Barcelona. (Formula 1)
"This has been a productive first day for us," said McLaren’s Key.
"We’re not taking any notice of lap times at the moment, it’s all about learning and following our own directions and priorities."
"We gathered some important data points during this first day of testing and learned a great deal, both to carry forward for the rest of this test and also to use as we develop the car further."
"Like many teams, we undertook initial runs with aero rakes on the car this morning which provided some useful initial correlation data."
"Aerodynamics is the biggest change with the ’22 cars so it is important to take some basic initial measurements at an early stage."
"Through the rest of the day, we did a fair amount of set-up and exploratory work, beginning to understand the car and the tyres a step at a time."
"I think we can be pleased with the number of laps we’ve covered with Lando today and look forward to going again with Daniel tomorrow."
