McLaren: Norris runs are 'development' rather than 'assessment'

Lando Norris is a contender for a seat at McLaren next season, but sporting boss Gil de Ferran insists the young charger's FP1 runs are more about driver development than an outright assessment.

Norris acquitted himself well at Spa last Friday, where he was slotted into Fernando Alonso's seat in FP1.

At Monza he will replace Stoffel Vandoorne in Friday morning's first free practice session, but de Ferran denies it's all part of the team's quest to determine the identity of the driver that will race alongside Carlos Sainz in 2019.

"You called it assessment, I call it development," said the McLaren sporting boss.

"It’s very hard to assess a driver in the strength of one free practice or one session or one qualifying session. I think you need to step back and take a wider view. That’s been the same for everyone.

"I think these free practice sessions are really more about giving Lando exposure and help him along the development plan."

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Regardless of the main reason for the outings, de Ferran has so far been impressed with its junior driver's performance and contribution.

"One thing he certainly has is he adapts himself very quickly to any new situation," added the Brazilian.

"I’ve seen that on the tests that he had and the same thing happened here.

"As part of his development, we wanted to bring him into FP1 because of different downforce levels, a lot more cars on the track, a lot of track evolution and wanted to give him that experience.

"He came up to speed very quickly and did a fine job for us, didn’t make any mistakes. He was absolutely fine."

As determined as he is to impress McLaren, Norris' primary focus remains his title bid in the FIA Formula 2 championship, an achievement he believes is equally important to the Woking-based outfit.

"I think F2 is just as important," the 18-year-old told Motorsport.com.

"I don’t just want to be going and not doing well, because McLaren still wants me to do well in F2.

"It’s still a nice thing to have on your CV, to say you won Formula 2. I don’t want to finish second, so I still do the best I can.

"Whether I need to prioritise one or the other, I will still try to get the best out of both worlds.

"I still think a lot of the priority is on F2. There’s not a huge amount of preparation I can do for F1. The way of preparing is similar for both up to a point.

"I’d say it’s 50/50. I have to do well in both."

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