British Outfit McLaren was off to a great start until the team stumbled come the Bahrain pre-season testing. Their Aussie driver, Daniel Ricciardo, tested positive for covid, after which Lando Norris had to complete the full testing. However, Daniel’s health was not the only hurdle, when later the Free practice sessions saw the team struggling even more. While the Woking team found a solid grip in Barcelona, this sudden jolt of issues has left them devastated.

McLaren might not have an easy start to 2022

Initially, a Red Bull vs Ferrari vs McLaren vs Mercedes situation anticipated a solid season. However, a difficult period of ‘porpoising’ and brake issues has possibly put Mercedes out of contention. Moreover, McLaren also looked weak in the Free practice sessions. FP1 saw the top team struggling only at the 16th and 17th positions, while Norris gained the pace later, he could still only manage to set the 11th fastest time.

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Aussie fan favorite Daniel faced an even tougher challenge as he set the 18th fastest time because of a water pressure problem. Additionally, the MCL-36 also reported having Brake overheating problems. Daniel shed some light on his struggles and said, “I think honestly, we’re just lacking overall grip.

“The car feels okay, but obviously when you’re down a little bit on grip, you do struggle a bit more and lock a wheel here or there and make a few errors.” the Australian explained.

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His partner Norris also shared his views on the situation and looked concerned. He said, “I’ve got no idea. We’ve only been here and not other tracks, so at the moment you’ve just got to say it’s [the] package.

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Lando sounded concerned as he revealed that many tracks are similar to Bahrain. If the MCL36 was an issue on this track, then he felt the team needs to rectify problems by keeping everything in mind. The 22- year-old performed incredibly well in the 2021 season, while consistently outpacing his teammate. However, the new car might hurt his dreams of potentially performing even better this season.

The young Briton was clear that McLaren needs to find the pace to be able to compete. However, fans are still backing the Norris-Ricciardo duo for several GP wins, and a possible constructors’ win.