Argomenti trattati
On 15 April 2026 McLaren’s drivers spent time at the Nürburgring for a Pirelli tyre evaluation and used the session as an opportunity to gather valuable laps in the team’s 2026 car. The test, shared with rivals including Mercedes, was officially focused on tyres, but Lando Norris and Oscar piastri both treated it as a chance to recover experience that has been hard to accumulate since the start of the season. Between missed race opportunities and curtailed practice sessions, the pair have emphasised the importance of seat time to understand the new machinery and the associated systems.
Both drivers acknowledged that the beginning of the year has been tougher than expected for McLaren. They pointed to specific lost opportunities — a missed Grand Prix start in China and reduced running in Japan — as meaningful setbacks. In response, the team is leaning on its simulator programme and on-track tests to rebuild momentum. Throughout our conversation at the circuit, both drivers explained how these activities are part of a deliberate plan to close the gap in performance and regain consistency at the front of the grid.
Why the Nürburgring session mattered
The tyre test provided more than tyre data: it was a compact chapter in McLaren’s recovery strategy. For Norris and Piastri the key value came from practical laps to refine setups, investigate how the car behaves with different compounds and to experiment with software strategies that govern power delivery. The drivers stressed that small margins — particularly related to the power unit and energy deployment — can create big differences over a lap. With limited race mileage early in the year, the Nürburgring outing acted as a concentrated environment to accelerate learning and to feed fresh information back to engineers at Woking.
What the drivers are saying about the new cars
Battery management and power unit behaviour
Both Norris and Piastri highlighted the new emphasis on electrical systems in race strategy. They described how battery deployment and harvesting have become central to lap planning and overtaking, turning some battles into long-form tactical duels. The drivers reported instances of unexpected power spikes that changed the flow of a stint, and in one case a deployment occurred when the driver did not want it, compromising a subsequent straight-line defence. McLaren is working closely with the FIA and other teams to address these irregularities; the aim is to keep racing exciting while removing elements that unintentionally take control away from the driver. The discussions around these topics remain active and technical adjustments are expected.
Handling, weight and driving style
Compared with the 2026 cars, the 2026 machines are described by the drivers as lighter, shorter and narrower, which changes the driving envelope considerably. The reduced aerodynamic load and narrower tyres encourage a more on-the-edge driving style, where a pilot can recover slides and make a difference with skill rather than relying purely on mechanical downforce. However, issues such as following in dirty air — defined here as the turbulent aerodynamic wake that robs a trailing car of downforce — remain a constraint. Both drivers welcomed the increased opportunity to influence lap time through technique, while still noting that energy rules complicate how aggressively they can push in sequence.
Outlook: targets, preparation and how they used the break
Despite early setbacks, Norris and Piastri expressed clear ambition to remain in the Championship fight. Their outlook combines short-term fixes and longer-term development: maximise available track time, tighten the software that governs power delivery and out-develop rivals such as Mercedes and Ferrari over the course of the season. Each driver pointed to examples from recent years where McLaren recovered from difficult starts, arguing that the team knows how to turn a season around. The message was pragmatic optimism — the work required is substantial, but the capability inside the team is proven.
During the April break the drivers split their time between rest, recovery and preparation. Norris took a short holiday in Spain and Portugal for downtime before returning to simulator work and the Nürburgring test, while Piastri spent time in Monaco, celebrated his birthday and attended events such as the Monte-Carlo Masters tennis before rejoining the factory for debriefs and media duties. Both emphasised ongoing physical training and simulator hours as essential: when the calendar resumes in Miami and Canada with sprint formats, preparation will need to be precise. For McLaren the combination of targeted tests, meticulous simulation and iterative software fixes forms the roadmap back to consistent podium contention.