Lando Norris, McLaren, Spa-Francorchamps, 2018

Norris to return for McLaren in practice at Monza

2018 Italian Grand Prix

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Lando Norris will make his second appearance in practice for McLaren at next week’s Italian Grand Prix, the team has confirmed.

Sporting director Gil de Ferran said Norrsi will drive Stoffel Vandoorne’s car in the first practice session at Monza.

Norris “did a great job”, said De Ferran. “I didn’t have much exposure to him prior to this year, I certainly knew about his results but not much else.

“[But] one thing he certainly has is he adapts himself very quickly to new situations. I’ve seen that in the tests he’s had and the same thing happened here.

“As part of his development we wanted to bring him here with a lower downforce level, a lot more cars on track, a lot of track evolution, we wanted to give him that experience.

“It was the same thing, he came up to speed very quickly and did a fine job for us, didn’t make any mistakes, he was absolutely fine. He will be in at Monza in FP1 as we continue to help him develop his skills.”

McLaren has one place left in its driver line-up for the 2019 F1 season having confirmed Carlos Sainz Jnr as Fernando Alonso’s replacement. Norris is potentially a contender for the seat along with current driver Stoffel Vandoorne, while Esteban Ocon is understood to have had a seat fitting for the team recently.

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