Norris: Shocking how bad we are with DRS

Another season, another poor start for McLaren who have been on the back foot from the start of the new era of ground effect F1 cars in 2022, and 2023 saw no improvement.

As such, the team has undergone a major technical change with tech boss James Key shown the door, and new structure being put in place which will include former Ferrari engineer David Sanchez.

Reflecting on the weaknesses of his 2023 ride, Lando Norris said over the weekend of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix: "Our straight-line speed is so poor, I think not having DRS helps us.

"It still shocks us how bad we are with DRS, and how draggy we are when we open DRS," he added. "We gain a few km/h, but some of the other cars are gaining 10-15km/h, and it's a different ballpark to us.

"So, Saturdays are a big weakness for us at the minute, especially with four DRS zones [at Albert Park], it's not in our favour in any way.

"But we understand it, and we're working hard to try to figure out how to make it better and more efficient," the McLaren driver maintained.

Norris also admitted that it would be a while before the team can improve; he said: "It'll be a while before we can improve that too much. We're trying, but it's difficult when it's so tough on Saturday, it makes life harder on Sunday."

Despite being disadvantaged in Melbourne, McLaren capitalized on the mayhem during the race, both Norris and Oscar Piastri keeping their noses clean to score their first points of the season.

Norris finished sixth scoring eight points while Piastri finished eighth scoring four points.