Lando Norris punches a wall while Oscar Piastri spins out in disastrous F1 testing for McLaren

The F1 season begins next weekend in Bahrain, and signs are not looking good for McLaren driver Lando Norris, who punched a wall after a poor testing session that saw him spin out. 

The McLaren star had a miserable final day of testing, with the 23-year-old finishing 11th, while his teammate – Aussie rookie Oscar Piastri – spun out at one point and finished 16th. 

It became too much for the English driver, with journalist Will Buxton reporting that he saw Norris take his frustrations out on a wall. 

‘I actually saw him (Lando) leave the garage and walk to the little driver’s room on the side and, very unlike Lando, he actually punched the flimsy, makeshift wall as he walked through,’ he said.

‘That little bit of frustration. You can tell it’s not quite right.’

A disappointed Lando Norris (right) bemoans another poor presason testing session for McLaren

Pensive-looking teammate Oscar Piastri also had his troubles on the track, at one point doing a 360 spin as he lost contrl

Oscar Piastri’s McLaren completes a lap as a stunning sunset bathes the Bahrain track in colour

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished on top, with Lewis Hamilton .36 seconds behind – though his Mercedes did experience some issues with its balance and traction. 

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was .52 behind Perez in third, ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished around .7 seconds off the victor. 

Unfortunately for Piastri and Norris, the struggles continued at McLaren. 

After the team finished fifth in last year’s Constructor championship, McLaren’s continual unraveling has been the talk of the F1 preseason. 

Piastri, who replaced compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren for this season, was forced to pull into the garage after just 25 laps after an issue with the front winglets.

McLaren also completed the fewest amount of laps out of the teams, with just 312, compared to AlphaTauri, who topped the list at 456. 

CEO Zak Brown admitted the team is not as far forward as they would like ahead of next Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. 

Lando Norris finished 11th in the last day of preseason testing, with McLaren’s woes piling up

Oscar Piastri had to pull into the garage after 25 laps after an issue with the front winglets

The McLaren car continues to experience a range of issues, and will be up against it to measure up for next weekend’s season opener

Even McLaren CEO Zak Brown admits the car is not where the team would like, and isn’t sure whether they will be in top form next weekend

‘We had some teething problems. We had Oscar (Piastri) doing most of the heavy lifting in the morning getting the car dialed in. Nothing alarming, just usual testing bugs if you like,’ he said.

‘We know we set some goals for development, which we didn’t hit, and we felt it was better to be honest about that. 

‘I think we will be going into the first race off of our projected targets. So it is hard to really know where that means we will be on the grid,’ said the brutally honest Brown. 

It has turned the team into somewhat of a punching bag on social media, with many frustrated fans venting their fury at the Woking-based F1 giant appearing to go backwards after a very disappointing 2022. 

One fan wrote ‘McLaren has burst my delusional little bubble before the season has even started’, while another insisted while he ‘might not trust McLaren’, he did trust that ‘Lando and Oscar while always do their best’. 

Despite McLaren continuing to be the talking point of the F1 world, Brown said he was confident the team could turn their technology struggles around. 

‘Our aspirations are to get back to the front. We know that will take a little bit more time,’ he said.

‘(But) all the technology infrastructure is either in or going to be pretty much completed this year, so that’s quite exciting.

‘We have some good developments coming, but so does every other single team in Formula 1, so we need to pick up the pace.’

The pace at the moment is being set by Red Bull. 

A happy Max Verstappen smiles after the first preseason testing session

He said he is supremely confident in his Red Bull car, which is pictured in front of Bahrain’s iconic palm tree,

Both Perez and Max Verstappen are turning heads, with Leclerc even acknowledging they were well ahead.

‘Red Bull seem to be very strong in these three days,’ he said, with the Milton Keynes outfit easily outpointing every other team across the three preseason sessions. 

Verstappen told reporters after the session that he was supremely ‘confident’ in the car, and was pumped for another big season as he looks to win his third Drivers Championship in a row. 

‘Compared with last year, I think it is a step forward,’ he said.

‘But that’s also because last year’s car was overweight and it was the first year of the new generation of car.

‘During the year you obviously learn a lot, which makes it easier to start [learning] now – and I think we have done that.’