Lando Norris had a strong start to the Australian Grand Prix weekend, topping first practice with a time of 1:18.564s giving him a slender 0.018s advantage over Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
But the afternoon was less successful and Norris slipped to ninth in the final timesheets of the day, putting him behind his team mate Oscar Piastri who finished the day in P7.
“A reasonable day," Norris summed up after the end of the day's track activity. "We struggled to find a bit of confidence given the gusts of wind, so we didn’t get the best feeling.
"It didn't really feel great in FP1, I think we just showed more pace than the others," Norris told the media in the paddock. "So I don't think it meant anything at all.
"It was a tricky day with how windy it was, it makes a big difference," he insisted. "But I had a relatively good feeling in the car, and I think we're in a reasonable position.
"But I think the pace is reasonable," he continued. "We’re in the mix, which is a good sign. It should make our lives exciting tomorrow – but we’ve still got a lot of work to do to make the most of it.”
Norris scuppered any suggestions that McLaren could fight for pole position in qualifying tomorrow, but also stated that Max Verstappen was unlikely to make it three poles in a row.
"It is clear that Ferrari and Red Bull are a long, long way up the road," he said. "Even Aston Martin are quite a bit ahead of us, adding: "Ferrari and Leclerc will be on pole, or Carlos."
As for McLaren, Norris said that there are "clear weaknesses" with the MCL38 such as the low-speed corners which make up most of the second half of the lap in Melbourne from turns 13-16. that continue to compromise its performance.
"There is no place that we're consistently stronger than anyone," he explained. "We lose just a little bit in every sector, maybe a little bit more in the tight, twisty corners, like the last sector.
"We're just not as quick everywhere basically," he admitted. "It's not a single place, it has been clear since day one that Red Bull and Ferrari are way too fast for us. There is no point looking at them. Mercedes and Aston Martin are better targets."
Meanwhile, Australian driver Piastri was pleased to be back for his second home race in Formula 1, and very much one of the star attractions as far as fans in the grandstand were concerned.
"It’s been nice to be driving back at home," Piastri said after finishing his stint in the cockpit at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit. "All in all, not a bad day. We were a bit up-and-down, but there were definitely some positive signs.
"We’ll have a look and see what we can find for tomorrow," he continued. "We’ve got a few things to look at and try to work on, but I'm feeling optimistic."
"A productive day," was the summary from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. "The car behaves well in general but there are some aspects to improve. We have a lot of data to look into this evening to prepare for qualifying and the race.
"From a performance point of view, it’s been encouraging," he added. "We could test all the set-up items that we had in the programme, including understanding the tyres, which will make the race interesting from a strategy point of view."
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