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The Austrian Grand Prix will be a big test of whether Lando Norris can find what he needs with McLaren's Formula 1 car as it plans no more changes to directly address the issues he has faced this season.
McLaren brought a new front suspension geometry and associated small aerodynamic changes to its car for the previous race in Canada, which Norris opted to run but team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri declined to use.
The purpose of that change was to help with a relative numbness the drivers feel with the front axle, which has led to both struggling with the car at the limit at times, although Norris is more vulnerable to it and has made more significant mistakes in crucial moments in qualifying.
McLaren's tweak seems to have slightly modified how the front wheels react to steering lock being applied, to put a little more load back through the steering wheel and give more feedback.
Technical director of engineering Neil Houldey described it as allowing Norris "to be able to feel the tyres on the limit a little bit better".
McLaren considered making the change that it brought to Canada at the start of the year, but was concerned it would come with a potential drawback that would be counterproductive.
The nature of suspension set-up adjustments suggests this could have been detrimental to front tyre performance if it changed how it interacted with the track surface or what load was put through the tyre.
"They had some small negatives that we didn't necessarily want to introduce at the start of the year," Houldey said of the adjustments.
"Running earlier on in the season gave us confidence that actually that wasn't going to be a problem and so we were able to introduce this change without any real concern that it wouldn't be any worse and should be better.
"With all of these things, we're trying to find the best of a number of different scenarios and it was the same with the suspension that we were concerned in one area.
"We worked out that that wasn't a concern during the season, and you're just trading things to try and find the most optimum performance which for Lando, we think we've now found."
The confidence that Norris should have what he needs is significant as it means it is ultimately now down to him.
Though he made mistakes on both Q3 runs in Montreal even with the new front suspension, McLaren and Norris both felt it had helped, and will continue to run the car with that set-up - with any further improvement set to be from working with what is now on the car, rather than bringing new parts.
When asked if there were still specific things that needed to be done to help, Houldey said: "Now it's really down to the set-up of the car and so we've added parts or options to the car now and there's set-up options that people will take forward depending on the track, depending on the driver.
"We're really out of that point where big upgrades are making a difference and actually we're bringing options.
"Different circuits are going to offer different amounts of performance and we'll be trading those at each event as we move forward now, rather than bigger upgrades."
No better test than Red Bull Ring
Norris has acknowledged there is only so much he can ask of McLaren and that it is "my job to drive whatever car I get given", whether he has the feeling he needs in the car or not.
And there is no better test for whether Norris can pull it together, and whether the front suspension change has helped, than this weekend at the Red Bull Ring - because it is a more conventional circuit than Montreal, but also because it's a track Norris excels at and knows exactly what he needs from the car.
"Certainly from the suspension side of things, it's more something to try and give myself a better feeling [and] hopefully a better feeling can in some way unlock performance," said Norris when asked by The Race about how important this track is to judge his feeling in the car and the suspension set-up tweak from Canada.
"[This is] another weekend for us to judge that and for me to get a feeling on it, in a more normal track compared to Canada.
"If there is any track that I would say I would go to give myself the best feeling and make myself most comfortable, it's probably here. Just from my stats and from my enjoyment of the circuit and some other memories that I've had here as well."
What is new for McLaren in Austria
While Norris will keep using the front suspension tweak, and Piastri is avoiding it, there are more new parts on both cars at the Austrian GP.
There is a front suspension fairing upgrade in Austria that is linked to the front wing McLaren brought to the previous race in Canada, as well as a new rear suspension geometry.
McLaren has made an effort to ensure parity across the two title rivals whenever it brings an update, at least in terms of giving them the option to use it.
Houldey said it was "a big combination of a front end aerodynamic system that we're upgrading", along with a change to the rear suspension geometry that means McLaren has "joined in the party" after seeing other teams implement it.
"I'm not going to go into too much detail, but you'll have seen up and down the grid that there have been a number of changes on the rear suspension of the car, so really suspension kinematics," Houldey said.
"And this event we've just added something that we think will add a little bit more stability to the rear end, mainly in corner entry."
