Norris ended the campaign berating the “shit job” he had made of qualifying shootouts. This followed a slide in Abu Dhabi that denied him the chance to nick pole off Max Verstappen. The Briton was similarly self-critical of his one-lap performances in Austin and Mexico City.
This has led McLaren to consider ways to support Norris, such as replicating the “entourage” given to help tennis players or letting Norris target consistency rather than perfection.
Asked by Autosport whether McLaren should intervene to help Norris kerb any mistakes, team principal Andrea Stella said: “It's about how you judge situations, it's about how you talk about situations, about how you interpret yourself. This one certainly deserves some attention.
“How can we just sometimes accept that a 99.9% lap is good enough? What are you up against? Always the 100% or consistency?
“When you look into opportunities with drivers, with the athletes at this level, you do it as a group. You do it 360 degrees around the driver.
“You can see in tennis, these players, they have an entourage around them, which is to support this incredible performance to actually deliver to the best of their potential.”
Amid the driver errors, McLaren is working to assess whether major in-season upgrades that turned the MCL60 into a car capable of challenging Red Bull have also introduced tricky handling traits.
Source: Autosport