Lando Norris is looking forward to every F1 2024 circuit as he reckons McLaren seems to be performing on all types of tracks so far.
McLaren has continued its upward trend this year which started in the second half of 2023 F1 season. Since the British GP last year, the team has scored one win and 15 podiums to go with win one sprint win and four sprint podiums, in 22 rounds.
They have certainly put themselves at par with Ferrari in this period, even if they both are slightly behind Red Bull. This year they seem closer to the reigning champions and are piling the pressure on the Italian manufacturer to be vigilant all the time.
The performances on different types of circuits has improved confidence and Norris is now raring to go at each venue to see how they compete. “I look forward to every track now because every place we seem to be performing well,” he said. “At the minute you would just say every track’s been better than last year for us.
“Until we get to Austria, that was the first time we had the upgrade last year. So I think it’s still probably our biggest weakness and I think yes we’re good in Monaco and Canada, but that’s when you can just focus on low speed. I think when you have to focus a bit more on medium and low speed at the same time that’s when we struggle to maybe get a better balance of both.
“Monaco is Monaco, so I wouldn’t just say we fixed our low speed. We still need to improve it more to be on par with Ferrari. they’re the standards of where we need to be in slow speed but Red Bull clearly we’re not, but they’re not bad in slow speed at the same time. It’s just a combination of ride and confidence and driver feeling inside the car.
“So It’s quite as simple as that, but we’ve clearly improved and that’s probably been one of the areas we’ve improved the most and why we’ve been able to be a bit more consistent this year. Also, I mean, it’s good to see where Mercedes are going to be, because they’ve clearly improved a lot.
“Like the last two-three weekends, they’ve been pretty close to probably being the quickest car. In Canada, they’ve been the quickest all weekend. So I think it was a positive. We finished ahead of them, because they’ve been the quicker team. So to always beat a quicker car and a quicker team is a nice thing. It’s a rewarding thing.
“But if they’re quicker in the next few races, too, and they’ve kind of joined the fight of Ferrari, Red Bull, and us, then it’s only going to make our life, I think, more exciting. More tricky and more stressful because now there will probably be eight cars which are fighting up there and challenging us all together.
“So exciting for us, exciting for probably everyone watching. And yeah, another opportunity where we can try and make up for,” summed up Norris, who further elaborated on the current fight in the constructors’ championship, where he has put Red Bull ahead still and the real tussle being between McLaren and Ferrari.
They can’t slip-up at all in any situation as it will allow the rivals to get through. Norris is also enjoying the current scene of fighting for race wins, which he thinks in not just good for them, but also for F1 in general. “To be honest, at the minute, I think between Ferrari and us,” he said. “So we’ll keep pushing and I think that’s one of our biggest strengths at the minute.
“We have two drivers as McLaren who are up there not making mistakes and getting pretty much everything out of the car every single weekend. Yeah, it’s rare that there’s not many other teams on the grid that have such a thing. So for us, it’s more out of what we can do against Ferrari. Again, we’ve been a more consistent team.
“They’ve had some mistakes and just struggled a little bit more for whatever reason. But in the end of the day, I think two is going to be better than one, in Max’s case. So we’re doing a good job, but we still need to keep pushing on and try and bring more upgrades and things like that.
“Because with Mercedes joining, it’s only going to make it harder to score big points like we did in Canada. But overall, I mean it’s good for all of us like in the team it just is knowing you have a hope. You have a chance at least is something that’s great. I think it’s better for the fans and better for people watching for multiple teams fighting for race wins.
“I think that’s really the best part of all of it, is that people watching are like, who could win this weekend rather than he’s going to win again. But also for me, for Oscar, for any driver on the grid, or at least the guys in the top six cars, then we’re all coming into it like, maybe this is our weekend, if we can make that extra little bit of difference, if we can find that last one hundredth.
“And I think that makes everyone push it even more right and then kind of take that little bit more risk and try and get that little bit more out of themselves and I think that’s an exciting time because you’re kind of pushing us as drivers to the absolute limit and more maybe than what we did before.
“Because whenever you’re going to have to fight for a win, there’s going to be that little bit more motivation than if you’re fighting for 15th or 16th. Even though you try and make it feel the same and you go out and try and deliver the best performance every time, when you know you can lift a trophy, it always means that little bit more, right? So yeah, it’s exciting for me, it’s exciting for the team and it’s exciting more so for everyone watching,” summed up Norris.
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