Lando Norris is confident his McLaren team will be able to enjoy a stronger start to the new Formula 1 season compared to last year.
The Bahrain Grand Prix will again stage the opening round of the world championship in the Sakhir area of the Gulf state. McLaren will be desperate for a better start this year after a disastrous beginning to the 2022 campaign.
Both Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finished a long way off the points places with their car entirely uncompetitive at the start of the year. Joined this year by a new Aussie team-mate this year in the form of Oscar Piastri, Norris will be desperate to be able to get off to a better start.
No-one yet knows how competitive each car is compared to their rivals this year. But, after a few laps on the Bahrain track for a shakedown of the MCL60 on Tuesday, both drivers appeared confident of being hopefully able to enjoy a better start to the 2023 campaign.
"As good it could go, I reckon," said Norris when asked how the shakedown went. "Only a few laps today, so more of a shakedown for the car to make sure it works properly and there are no major issues, and to set ourselves up for the test later this week.
"Nice to be back in the car and back here in Bahrain – it's a track that I really do love. Happy everything went smoothly, and a good first day. It's a super important day for us, especially because we need to start this season off better than we did last year.
"So far, we've done exactly that. I'm happy, the team are happy and there's a lot of hard work to make sure we start smoothly and with reliability where it should be. We've done exactly that, so it's a super important day."
And Piastri added: "It was good, nice to shake it down and get back in a current F1 car again, so a good day. Everything went smoothly, which is the most important thing, and now we're ready for testing. We've only got three days between myself and Lando – so a day and a half each – to get up to speed before the season starts.
"For me, it's a day and a half in a current generation car which I've only had one day in, so there will be a lot of learning going on for both myself and the team. It's the track we'll be doing the first race at, so we can take a lot into the first race – it's a super important time for everyone."
