Honda Nightmares Return as McLaren Suffer Worst Start to F1 Season in 5 Years

McLaren have had a shocking start to the 2022 season. The Woking-based team has scored just six points from the first two races, with both drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo failing to qualify in Q3 on both occasions.

This is their worst start since the 2017 season when the team had 0 points. They had a bad car and a dwindling relationship with Honda in 2017. But since then the team has had an upturn in terms of performance as they have finished in Top-4 since 2019.

READ MORE: What Is the McLaren Driver Lineup for the 2021 F1 Season?

But in the 2022 season, it looks like the team has not been able to nail the new regulations. Lando Norris mentioned it is not such a happy environment anymore in the team.

McLaren driver Lando Norris explains the mood of the team

The British driver revealed that the mood of the team is not happy as compared to previous seasons. He mentioned it is hard to keep the morale up of the team when they are struggling as compared to their rivals at the start of the 2022 season.

It is definitely a shock for the team to see themselves lagging in the lower half of the midfield when they were fighting for podiums and wins in the last two seasons.

“You can’t lie. If you have points and you have success and you have podiums, there’s always a rise in morale… I think there are expectations, of course, and… as racing people, we want to have success and do well,” said Norris.

“We’re never going to be as happy [being] P16 compared to if we were P8 or P7 or whatever. So, there’s always just a little bit of our happiness gone,” said the McLaren driver.

WATCH STORY: Shortest F1 Drivers Ever Featuring Yuki Tsunoda & Lando Norris

It has indeed been a tough time for both him and Ricciardo in the first 2 races. But it would be interesting to see that in this long season how the team develops their car and makes it more competitive. Currently, they are 10 points behind Alpine who are 4th in the championship.

Both Norris and Ricciardo would hope that the team is as compared details if not more like the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend in Australia. It would be a shame to see both of them struggling at Daniel’s home track.