The Fernando Alonso factor aiding Lando Norris cause

The right-hand man to Lando Norris feels that his previous working relationship with Fernando Alonsoprovided him with the ideal learning ground ahead of operating with the British driver.

Will Joseph has been the voice in Norris’ ear since they were paired together at a pre-season test ahead of the 25-year-old’s rookie season in 2019.

Joseph has been with McLaren for almost two decades, working his way up to the role of performance engineer before moving on to become race engineer during Alonso’s second stint with the team from 2015-2018, and then the year after with Norris.

Despite his own experience over his years with McLaren before joining forces with Alonso, Joseph knows he learned from the 43-year-old, which stood him in good stead before working with Norris.

“Fernando was my first driver as a race engineer,” said Joseph, speaking to RacingNews365. “Now, Fernando was already a world champion. He was already a fantastic driver.

“For me, it was very good that, as a newbie race engineer, I had someone of such high experience that I could benefit more from him than the other way around.

“Then I could take that learning and understanding to Lando, who was a rookie and needed things very differently. Like I say, having someone with that experience meant I could develop myself a lot in preparation for a different driver where the requirements are different.

“With Lando, I was the lead, whereas before it was the other way around, and yes, it’s massively different. Drivers change through their careers. From Lando as a rookie to Lando now, it’s a very different interaction.

“There are some core fundamentals that have stayed the same, but we’ve had to develop and evolve through that period.”

The difference in roles between a performance engineer and a race engineer “varies from team to team”, according to Joseph.

At McLaren, Joseph said a race engineer “is fundamentally responsible for the car” and is effectively “the conductor of the orchestra”.

He added: “They have engineers underneath them, and you’re trying to get each engineer to get the most for your driver and the car.

“The race engineer is responsible for the car setup, run plans, tyre usage, all the communications with the driver, the administration that goes around having a driver, factory days, time we’re out at the track, et cetera, et cetera.”

As for a performance engineer, that person is “on the shoulder of the driver in the car”.

Joseph said: “They should be able, from the data, to understand exactly what’s going on with the car. If anything, they have more understanding of the very details of what’s going on with the car than the race engineer does.

“I’m in a more holistic role. I take that input, the input from other people and put it together to make changes. The performance engineer is really into the nitty-gritty of every tiny bit of oversteer, every bit of under-rotation we see on the car.

“They’re narrowed down on that focus, where I’m looking wider at the bigger picture.”