Lando Norris: Positive mid-season assessment for McLaren despite frustrations with F1 car

After Lando Norris narrowly clinched the World Championship title last year, reality set in: the champion got off to a mediocre start to the season and only managed to finish second – his first GP podium of the year – at the fourth race in Miami. This was followed by two races without points in Canada and Monaco, before he returned to the podium in third place in Barcelona.

His first Grand Prix win of the season was a long time coming. It was not until the eleventh round of the World Championship in Hungary that the Briton was able to bask in the glory of the top step of the podium once more; he repeated the feat at the following race weekend in Zandvoort. However, these have so far been the only Grand Prix victories for the driver, who takes to the track with the number 1 on his car.

Lando Norris explains: The other teams have managed it better

Recently, Norris has been struggling again; his car is difficult to drive, complained the 26-year-old, who nevertheless takes a positive view of the season so far. In the paddock in Mexico, he confirmed: “Sure, the car was dreadful and difficult to drive, and it’s been like that all season. The other teams have simply managed to bring far more upgrades to the track and improve much more significantly than we have.”

At the same time, the 13-time Grand Prix winner emphasised: “The team is still doing a good job, considering that at the start of the year we were still almost one and a half seconds behind the frontrunners. The fact that we’ve still nearly won three races is in itself a good achievement. I therefore think we’ve had a pretty good year so far, when you look at it that way.”

“Of course, we set the bar very high and want to win everything we can. We were a long way off at the start of the season, but we’ve done a good job of making up that ground. We’ve performed better than most of the other teams on the grid,” added Norris.

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