Lando Norris issues update on ‘destroyed’ McLaren after Max Verstappen clash

Lando Norris pulls into the pits with a rear right puncture

Lando Norris has declared his MCL38, which reportedly suffered €595,000 of damage in Austria, is “ready” for Silverstone after McLaren fitted the car with a repaired spare floor.

Clashing with Max Verstappen as they battled for the lead at the Austrian Grand Prix, Norris’ MCL38 suffered extensive damage in what he has since called a “pretty pathetic incident”.

McLaren have used previously damaged parts to fix Lando Norris’ car

According to reports, not only was his floor wrecked, but there was also front wing, nose, sidepod, and rear wing damage totalling €595,000.

Norris bemoaned at the time that his car had been “destroyed” with the “best bits of the car – all for the bin.

“These are all the bits that we needed for next week [Silverstone]. It’s not just a repercussion of what happens on the track, it’s everything that now we have to carry into Silverstone and be disadvantaged by.”

The good news is McLaren had enough spare parts by drawing on previously damaged ones that had been fixed to put Norris’ car back together.

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“Everything’s okay,” he revealed in Thursday’s FIA press conference. “It’s more just like longer term stuff it’s impacted more than just this weekend.

“We have some spare floors that were already damaged before, which we’ve been able to repair and kind of get things ready for. The team have done an amazing job to get things ready.

“We knew with three races in a row, easily things can go wrong and you can easily have a lot of damage. It’s not hard to damage a floor in the first place. You can run over an exit kerb and it can be damaged quite easily.

“The team have done a good job to make sure we’ve had enough and we’ve got some more for this weekend and some repaired ones. Maybe not in a perfect place, but, like a sidepod and brake ducts, all these kinds of things, they all add up.

“And when you’re in a tight fight for a championship and you’re pushing hard, you’re always trying to push the boundaries of everything, just like the racing is. With the budget cap and upgrades and CFD, all those types of things, you just want every bit of money possible.

“So, yeah, a bit of a shame, but the team have done a good job to make sure everything’s ready for this weekend.”

Norris will line up on the Silverstone grid for his home Grand Prix chasing a second F1 race victory as he looks to eek into Verstappen’s 81-point advantage in the Drivers’ Championship.

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