Chinese Grand Prix: Lando Norris says no changes needed to McLaren car after new tests on flexible wings

Norris addressed the issue of McLaren briefly issuing orders for him and team-mate Oscar Piastri not to battle for position while they were negotiating backmarkers in the middle of the rain-affected Australia race.

“I didn’t really know about it and it was literally just for two or three laps as we went though the backmarkers,” he said.

“Risky conditions and we’d look like idiots if we both ended up off the track. And then he was free to race. We were free to race until that point, and then holding period for two or three laps, and then we we’re free to race again.

“It was stupid to risk anything going through backmarkers. And I was at a place where I was thinking I need to get these tyres to lap 54 or something. Oscar was pushing a bit more.”

Norris said that while he was “surprised” by the gap McLaren had to the field in qualifying in Melbourne, after he and Piastri had locked out the front row, he was still not happy with the car’s behaviour.

“What I want from a car, a good front at apex, is difficult to get,” he said. “I very rarely have what I need from the car from that prospect. But the car can still win races. I can still make the most out of the car if I don’t have what I want.

“There are just compromises. When the girls and guys try to talk you though it, if I do want more front mid-corner, we can only get that if were compromise high speed or low speed. It is so complicated.

“We want the best all-rounded car. But I think I have got a better understanding over the last few years. I’ve just said: ‘All right, give me the best car and will adapt to what I have even though it’s not what I feel I can get most out of’.

“But I have learned more out of my driving, and have fallen more into that philosophy of ‘give me the best car, not the car I want’.”