Sainz, Norris test F3 cars ahead of F1 return
McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris tested F3 cars at British circuit Silverstone on Thursday in preparation for Formula One’s return to racing.
The Austrian Grand Prix will start the 2020 season on July 5, after a four month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic. McLaren became the fourth team, after Mercedes, Renault and Racing Point, to perform some kind of test run with its drivers.
Why not test the F1 car?
Due to the nature of its deal with engine supplier Renault, McLaren does not have operational Formula 1 machinery that it can bring to a circuit.
Testing restrictions mean the teams are not allowed to run their 2020 cars at private tests – with the exception of the two 100km filming days each team is allowed every year – so Mercedes and Renault have been running older cars. However some teams – of which McLaren are one – do not have a working older spec F1 car in operation, so Norris and Sainz are today driving F3 cars.
Norris, who had already driven the Carlin-run Dallara F317 at Silverstone earlier this month, was joined by outgoing team-mate Sainz Jr. at the British Grand Prix venue.
The test took place in wet conditions in the wake of heavy and persistent rain affecting the region on Thursday.
Norris revealed earlier this month that he has already had some time in an F3 car as he looks to prepare himself for the start of the revised season, and he explained that just being able to push on track – even in a lower category car – will aid him when he jumps into his F1 car next month.
“It’s just getting the body back into that physical feeling of the G force and everything like that,” he said. “To get that muscle memory back and working as it should do… but it’s also a bit of a shock to the system to get back into doing that. Driving anything that you can push and go flat-out [in] is going to be a good feeling.”
And it looks like he was enjoying himself at Silverstone on Thursday morning, tweeting an image of his view from the cockpit with the simple message: “Back doing that thing I do.”