Norris left uncomfortable in his McLaren despite setting the benchmark on the opening day

Despite setting the benchmark on the opening day of the Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren driver Lando Norris was left unimpressed, hoping for a better feeling behind the wheel of his MCL38 in the remainder of the weekend.

After their double victory in Hungary, McLaren ended the opening day at Spa quickest with Lando Norris heading a one-two for the papaya outfit.

Asked to reflect on his first day of running when he hopped out of the car, Norris said that he felt uncomfortable behind the wheel of his MCL38 despite the promising headline lap times.

“Good. Still tough, still close. Red Bull are very quick at the minute. It’s tricky… I’ve just not felt very comfortable today with the car. I hope I just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable with it! But we’ll try and improve a few things and see again.

“I know it looked good on the timesheets, but I’ve not felt super comfortable in just going out and doing it, so hopefully I can just get in a bit more of a rhythm and feel a bit better out there.”

He added: “We’ve prepared well. We’ve got a good set-up on the car and it’s working, but just from my side, and just feeling like I can just go out and nail it, I’m not quite there just yet.

“Just with downforce questions… Of course, generally for the rain you want to edge towards the higher downforce, and I think that’s maybe the direction to go in any way,” he said. “But I don’t know just yet, so I’ll sit down with my guys and we’ll talk about it.”

His team-mate Oscar Piastri looked quick across the opening day, but he also insists that McLaren will need to fine-tune the optimal compromise between the high-speed corners and the long straight of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

“It’s been a reasonable day. The car seems quick, and we’ve gathered some good information. I’ve still got some work to do tomorrow on making sure I feel comfortable in the car, but I started to find more of a rhythm in the end. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.”

Asked whether Max Verstappen's ten-place grid drop will help his team, the Australian said: “Definitely,” he smiled. “I mean, it’s better than if he was starting at the front! I don’t think you can count him out, it’s a track they’ve been very quick at the last couple of years, and they look quick this weekend again.

“You know, I’m expecting him to make progress through the field, but having a little bit of a head start, hopefully, will definitely help a bit.”

McLaren team-boss Andrea Stella insisted that his outfit concentrated on tyre evaluation in the majority of the opening day due to the freshly-resurfaced track.

“A positive first day at Spa-Francorchamps. The drivers were able to work through their programmes without interruption. We concentrated on understanding tyre performance, and with half the circuit newly resurfaced, there was a lot to learn.

"We have gathered good data and will work hard to understand it this evening, to improve the car and put ourselves in the best position for Qualifying tomorrow and to be competitive on Sunday," said the Italian.