Car Development Takes Back Seat as Lando Norris’ Health Scare Becomes Pressing Issue for McLaren

McLaren is revving up their engines to ensure an increased rate of upgrades being applied to their MCL60. Their comeback in the 2nd half of 2023 has been quite strong, albeit they still face some major issues like the lowest straight-line top-speed among all 10 teams. But no sooner had they started working on such problems than their talisman, Lando Norris was given an upsetting health scare.

With the new car design regulations introduced in 2022, porpoising was a big issue for all teams. While some teams recovered from this setback pretty quickly, others took the entire year to provide some relief to their drivers. The one most affected by the after-effects of this issue is Lando Norris. The bouncing issue, and a lack of attention to working with a physio, have caused him a lot of back pain. This has now translated into a bigger concern, with McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella getting involved too.

Stella told Speedcafe, “We’re following this better very closely with Lando. Some (improvements) will have to come, as he explained himself, from his own understanding of what his body requires in terms of conditioning, and how he needs to sit in the car to be comfortable and avoid all these kinds of issues. From our side, there are quite a lot of variables that we can play with. But we need to know exactly where we have to put our focus, so it’s really a work in progress.”

He elaborated to say that there is still a considerable amount of time to go before they eliminate Norris’ concerns. “There’s no revolution in the plan in terms of the seating position (or) how upright he will be. So we are in the middle of the process, and I guess we will discover a bit more.”

Read More: Languishing after Oscar Piastri’s Grave Mistake, Daniel Ricciardo Finds Lando Norris’ Brotherly Support in Recovery

The more time they take, the more Norris misses out on performing better. Then, it’s just a domino effect till things come to a standstill. This health concern has even hindered him from pursuing other interests of his.

Back pain woes amplify for Lando Norris as personal interests get sacrificed for racing

The British racing sensation, along with racing competitively, is also an avid golfer. From considering it a “boring sport” to falling in love with it, golf could turn out to be a potential post-racing career for him. But that passion has been shelved now owing to his back pain and the perquisites of a demanding sport like F1.

“I would love to play more golf, but even with certain other things such as cycling and running, my back hurts,” said Norris. “So I still can’t do everything like I would want to do. I am doing more training for my core, lower back, and glutes and things like that.”

Watch This Story: Andrea Stella Waves the White Flag as Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri Show No Signs of Taming Their Wild Side

Let’s hope the funny guy in the paddock gets his wide smile back. And all of his physical concerns are put to sleep.