Norris ‘a sponge’ with an ‘enormous talent for learning’

Lando Norris has been praised by his performance engineer Jose Manuel Lopez for the way he soaks up information over the course of a race weekend.

The British driver may be struggling to reach the same heights of the 2021 campaign, but that’s through no fault of his own with the MCL35M proving to be a difficult car to predict so far this season.

Norris, though, has still managed to climb onto the podium steps again following a second consecutive P3 finish at Imola and continues to have the beating of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, setting the benchmark at McLaren.

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And Norris isn’t just impressing on the track, but away from it, too.

“Lando in qualifying extracts the best from the car and is a sponge,” Lopez said in an interview with AS.

“He has an enormous talent for learning new techniques, altering the reactions of the car or adapting to the limitations. I think that’s exceptional, apart from his pure speed.”

Lopez has also worked with a number of other stand-out names on the Formula 1 grid over the years, including Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat, Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell.

And the former two on this list have also been singled out for praise.

“Magnussen is very good at adapting to any circumstances, he always performed, others need the fastest car and if not they get lost,” he added. ”

“With Carlos [Sainz] I was in F3 with him and he is one of those who always digs and wants to know more in search of that extra tenth.”

Lopez’s preparation for