Andrea Stella has confirmed McLaren is doing all it can to help Lando Norris manage his longstanding back issues, although it remains a work in progress.
Over the course of the recent Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza, Norris surprisingly revealed he has been dealing with back pain following the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations at the start of last season that made the cars a lot stiffer.
Many drivers last term endured problems, notably due to the violent nature of the porpoising that saw the ground-effect cars bounce up and down at high speeds.
It was believed that with the eradication of the porpoising, driver comfort returned to a certain extent, although not for Norris who has endured “a lot of issues over the last 12 months”.
McLaren has played its part by making numerous seats to improve comfort for the Briton who has taken on a physiotherapist, and who has had to make adjustments to his lifestyle, including a reduction in how often he indulges in his great passion away from the race track – golf.
Asked by Speedcafe as to how the team could further help mitigate the problem for Norris in the future, Stella said: “We’re following this better very closely with Lando.
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“Some (improvements) will have to come, as he explained himself, from his own understanding of what his body requires in terms of conditioning, and how he needs to sit in the car to be comfortable and avoid all these kinds of issues.
“From our side, there are quite a lot of variables that we can play with, but we need to know exactly where we have to put our focus, so it’s really a work in progress.
“There’s no revolution in the plan in terms of the seating position, how upright he will be, so we are in the middle of the process, and I guess we will discover a bit more.
“But at the moment, it looks like he seems to be getting better after a season.
“So we are hoping, in a way, this will gradually fix itself, thanks to the work Lando is also doing, and his adaptation in terms of lifestyle, which I know must be very, very painful for such a passionate golf player.”
Norris concedes that he has to help himself more rather than hoping the rules will change and the cars will improve.
“I would love to play more golf, but even with certain other things such as cycling and running, my back hurts,” said Norris. “So I still can’t do everything like I would want to do.
“I am doing more training for my core, lower back, and glutes and things like that.
“There’s more of a focus that if I want to get better, I’ve got to do other things, rather than just trying to make the seat better and allow the car to somehow get better over time. It’s not going to be the case.
“I hope there aren’t any long-term effects, but a number of people have spoken up about it and said it. I know everyone’s different. Some people don’t, some people do.
“I guess for my own health, it’s something I need to look after.”
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