Lando Norris terms McLaren’s turnarounds as the best in the last 10 years, as he couldn’t believe they could fight Mercedes/Ferrari.
How McLaren started the F1 2023 season, it wasn’t looking like it will pan out how it did at the end. Towards the end of the year, they were challenging Red Bull and matched Mercedes and Ferrari in the standings and even beat Aston Martin.
The improvements they made was unexpected even for the team and the drivers. And Norris was worried about it at the start of the season. “The beginning was tough because I didn’t how..like I thought it was going to be whole year in a way,” said Norris.
“We didn’t know how much we are going to improve especially the very beginning, of course we said we will be a bit patient and we have some decent things coming but in the past few years when you had decent things coming, they have not always stood up to be that much of an improvement.
“This year was quite the opposite and it stood out to be a bigger improvement than we expected but it was tough because you never want to start the season thinking: ‘Wow, 23 races to go and I can’t even get out of Q1!’ it is just sort of thinking and knowing that so early on in the season. It just makes you think that it’s going to be a hell of a long year.
“I think what set us up very well is that it made everyone work very hard to try and achieve everything you could with a bad car, which then set us up very nicely for when we eventually had a good car. We’ve been one of the best teams, certainly maximising points every weekend, reliability and everything else on top of just having a quick car. I think being in a bad position at the start of the year helps.
“You realise sometimes that when you’re quick, a lot of things are easy and they come easily. You kind of forget sometimes the smaller things when you’re struggling and every kind of thing become more important and therefore you utlise it more, so then when you have a quick car, you kind of utilising everything, so I think it set us up nicely.
“But then there’s other things you have got to prepare for when you’re fighting at the top, it’s a different race when you’re fighting there compared to at the back,” summed up Norris, who termed the improvements as the best he has seen in the 10 years. To fight the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari was something he didn’t think would happen.
He felt quite proud of the work McLaren did overall. “So, emotionally proud of the whole team that they did such a big turnaround,” Norris continued. “One of the biggest turnarounds in probably the last 10 years in a period of time when it’s more difficult than ever because of wind tunnel time and costs and all of these things.
“For us to do that against Mercedes, who dominated F1 a few years ago for 5-6 years, against Ferrari who have always been one of the best teams to catch up, and with Red Bull who have had the most dominant car and team combo almost ever in F1, for us to be close at some races at beating them is quite impressive and a great achievement for everyone in the team.
“In terms of pace, we’ve been behind them for two years. They’ve not really taken any steps forward and we’ve taken a massive step forward. There’s plenty more things that we know we can improve on, so I think it’s a good time for us. A few more bits of the puzzle to put together, but we found the key pieces and I think we know what direction to go.
“So I’m really very proud of the whole team, because like you said, if we were in Bahrain now and I looked ahead, I was like dreading the season already. So to come away with seven podiums and all the great moments we’ve had were definitely not expected and I’ve got to thank the team for all of that.
“And the world record pit stop, all of those things, the team has done an amazing job in so many areas. I’m proud and I think we’re on the right track, so I’m excited for next year,” summed up Norris.
Here’s F1 2023 teams’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
Here’s F1 2023 drivers’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
Here’s McLaren partnering Alpinestars
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Here’s Oscar Piastri on F1 2023 being bigger roller coaster
Here’s controversy involving Bianca Bustamante
Here’s Lando Norris on progressing in 2023
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