So apparently McLaren are at the same time, 2 seconds off their intended pace and very happy with the car?
Journalists talking nonsense as usual.
What I gathered from Norris and his interview on Sky is that they are not completely happy but that they are working to improve the car. This dampened my expectations a bit, a but I still feel that the car looks like a solid midfield car, perhaps with potential to fight for 4th. Especially given that I expect McLaren to have good development pace through the year, especially with Key starting work in March (hopefully he developed some ideas in his garden).
Sainz yesterday was very happy with his morning, said it's the first time he did everything planned on day one of testing. This is extremely encouraging as McLaren struggled with the simple things in last 4 years, getting the car to run, having reliability to run miles, getting parts to work as planned, staying on schedule. Winter testing where everything seems to be going to plan is going to do wonders for this team and it's preparedness for Australia.
1:19:2 on C2 tires is something to keep in mind when journalists start talking about glory runs.