What would your reaction be to realizing that someone’s putting an F1 tire wrong? Lando Norris faced this during an FP2 McLaren pit stop, and the incident has been doing the rounds since then. A McLaren pit crew member did not notice the tire being the other way round. Whatever rolled on after that delayed Norris for more than required.
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The Briton performed exceptionally well in his FP2 run. After finding the right pace and setup and looking very comfortable in the machinery, the 22-year-old finished third. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo was also not far away, as the birthday boy managed a top 10 place, giving the papaya fans decent hope of a possible podium.
However, none of this went down without a dash of funny. Because of the McLaren pit crew’s hilarious blunders, they provided Twitter fans with some more meme-based content.
The whole pit stop was a mess in general, with the crew hurrying to handle it. Notably, they even lowered the car to the ground without the tires on at one point. Fans had hilarious reactions to the same.
Uh oh … intern failure 🤣
— TonyK (@tonycmk) July 1, 2022
Reverse engineering.
— Jamie Watt (@_JamieWatt) July 1, 2022
😂😂
— Socios Motorsport (@SociosMS) July 1, 2022
— 🏎💨⁷ (@joonceps) July 1, 2022
😂Thought I saw that
— Olly (@_iTzOlly) July 1, 2022
— Alejo-Gerardo VonderPutten (@AlejoPatten) July 1, 2022
Google Chrome Incognito mode.
— Sam | LH44 (@sampareek9) July 1, 2022
Man was forcing that tyre for a few seconds until he realized
— Odie (@aodie_lr) July 1, 2022
Besides the obvious pit crew blunder, the team looked ready for its home race. The Woking outfit may be very happy with the FP2 results for now, as the MCL-36 showed tremendous speed.
While the Canadian Grand Prix was not exactly a dream race for the team, they will surely look forward to Silverstone. i.e. a circuit where Norris and Ricciardo finished P4 and P5, respectively in 2021.
What is in store for McLaren and Lando Norris after the development breach?
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The team looks on the right path despite announcing a break in its developments recently. McLaren, wary of overspending, has become a victim of the budget cap. Due to rising inflation, salaries, etc. Andreas Seidl announced, “Hopefully it is not just us who had to pull the handbrake in terms of further developments, due to the restrictions we’re having mainly from the cost cap side.”
However, a pause in development does not necessarily mean bad news. The Woking team will look forward to making tweaks to their current car and will try to find the right pace. Their jump from previous poor performances has been commendable and did not go unnoticed. If they did it once, they are capable of doing it again.
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What do you think McLaren can bring to Silverstone? If not a win, do they look ready for at least a podium?