Breaking news
Formula 1
Norris: F1 shutdown has created “level playing field”
McLaren driver Lando Norris reckons the responses to the coronavirus pandemic from Formula 1 and the FIA regarding team operations has created a “level playing field” on car development.
Alex Kalinauckas
Published: Apr 18, 2020, 10:49 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
F1’s summer shutdown has been brought forward and extended – initially to 21 days and then to 35 – while social lockdown restrictions in place across much of Europe, where the teams are based.
It has also been agreed that the cars developed for 2020 will be used next year, with some limited areas of development, and the rules reset has been delayed to 2022 in a bid to ease the financial burden on the teams.
Norris says that as “everyone is on shutdown”, the situation means no team can gain a potential performance advantage.
“No one in this current period right now can be developing and doing anything in terms of trying to make the cars quicker, apart from being at home and thinking about stuff like that,” Norris told Motorsport.com.
“So I think everything that they've done and the decisions that they've made are the best for everyone.
“Whether it's for the leading teams or whether it's for the slower teams, I think it is a level playing field at the moment in terms of what everyone can do. And there's no advantage really for the higher teams and the faster teams with more money.
“I'm happy with what they're doing, and I think McLaren are pretty happy with the decisions that they're making. At the end of the day, I'm not the guy that makes decisions, so yeah, I'm happy with what they're doing.”
Read Also:
- When will Formula 1 return? Best-case versus worst-case scenario
- Top F1 teams "playing with fire" over cost cap - Brown
Asked if what he will be doing during the F1 hiatus – apart from during the shutdown period – included studying telemetry remotely, Norris said: “It quite easily can be [done]. I've got a hard drive with pretty much every single thing that I need on every video from last year for myself - from pre-season testing, data.
“So if I ever need to look at anything or want to or we're talking over the phone and want to discuss stuff, then we have references regarding to onboard data. I can quite easily just look at some data or some video and stuff like that.
“It's just [about] trying to keep your mind within what Formula 1 is like - because even when you're doing sim racing, you still get a good feel for how you control the car and stuff, but then it's the feedback, how an F1 car is different to cars you drive on the simulator.
“You don't tend to drive the F1 car as much on the simulator. And it's just trying to keep or bring yourself back to the reality of what it's like in F1 compared to just driving on the simulator. Whether it is looking at some video or some data or something like that, it's a good thing.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Vettel: F1's 'painful' absence no reason to rush return
Next article F1 Recap: What happened after the 2018 Chinese GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Alex Kalinauckas
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
More from
Lando Norris
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Andrea Stella praises Lando Norris for reaction to Singapore GP sprint clash
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Andrea Stella praises Lando Norris for reaction to Singapore GP sprint clash
More from
McLaren
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Latest news
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
50 min
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
5 h
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 6 h
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
10 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe