Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris have praised McLaren’s opening day of practice at the Spanish Grand Prix despite appearing to be still lacking pace at the Circuit de Catalunya.
McLaren brought several upgrades to their MCL34 for the race in Barcelona and they appear to have been successful. McLaren have shown moments of potential this season but ultimately have lacked pace and reliability at times.
Carlos Sainz felt the upgrade felt good, despite only using it in FP2.
“That was a pretty smooth Friday for us, doing a comparison across the upgrades that we’ve brought to this race,” said Sainz.
“I didn’t use the new package in FP1 and then ran it in FP2 to try to feel the reaction of the car.
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“We now need to compare the data to understand the differences, but I felt good in the car this afternoon, even though the track was not in the best condition.
Norris meanwhile was slightly more reserved in his judgement saying: “It’s been a good Friday but not amazing.
“I could have driven better, especially in FP1, but I think we introduced our small upgrades reasonably well.
“There’s still more pace we need to find, to be as strong as we want to be, but it hasn’t been a bad Friday.”
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Miami Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 01.05.26
Practice 1
04:30 PM
Sprint Qualification
08:30 PM
Saturday 02.05.26
Sprint Race
04:00 PM
Qualification
08:00 PM
Sunday 03.05.26
Race
08:00 PM
Friday 01.05.26
Practice 1
Fri 04:30 PM
Sprint Qualification
Fri 08:30 PM
Saturday 02.05.26
Sprint Race
Sat 04:00 PM
Qualification
Sat 08:00 PM
Sunday 03.05.26
Race
Sun 08:00 PM
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