Lando Norris says beating Ferrari is doable in F1 standings for third as they are closing in on beating Aston Martin for fourth.
McLaren are on a spiral with the results they have had in the recent races. The successive podiums has helped them to be only 11 points behind Aston Martin in the fight for fourth. Norris was confident of beating them by the end of the year.
But Fernando Alonso reckoned it wasn’t to be an easy task ahead of Qatar GP. The sprint win and double podium results has brought them only 11 points adrift of Aston Martin and with the Silverstone-based team not scoring enough, it already has put them in danger.
If McLaren continues to secure podium results, they can surpass Aston Martin this weekend in US GP and or by Mexico GP. So much so that they have Ferrari on target now for third. The Italian manufacturer is 79 points ahead and are eyeing second.
Mercedes is only 28 points ahead of them. With Red Bull having sealed the title, the fight for second and even third is on among four teams and Norris certainly confident about leapfrogging both Aston Martin and Ferrari in the races to come.
“It’s doable,” said Norris. “I think so. A couple of races ago it was, 70-something to Aston. I don’t know what it is now? Seventeen? I mean, Fernando said we were overconfident as well! I think we’re just doing a good job, not just in terms of pace but in Qatar we had a 1.8 second pit stop which is pretty impressive from the guys. They’ve been working extremely hard so to reward the whole team consistently is only more motivating and a bigger boost every weekend. They like the taste of success.
“It’s the first time they’re getting it consistently and I think that only makes them want it more and more and more every weekend that we’re doing so the guys are doing a great job. I think we’re both doing a decent job too, so we’ll keep it up. We know that Mercedes are very quick, probably as almost as quick as us in Qatar, just they keep making mistakes. So I’m sure if they have a clean weekend they will maybe make our life a bit more tricky and therefore I’m not as confident in saying it.
“But like I was comparing to Ferrari, it was only three weekends ago that Ferrari were close to… were on pole and almost winning races and nothing has really changed, it’s just a different track. We’re looking better, they’re looking a bit worse. I think we’re definitely not overconfident. We’re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there’s still going to be some races where we’re not going to be quite as strong,” summed up Norris.
Teammate Oscar Piastri is cautiously optimistic too about catching Ferrari, while he is certain about passing Aston Martin in the standings seeing the recent performances. “I think Suzuka and here have probably been tracks we’ve been looking at for quite a while in terms of what’s going to favour us,” he said.
“I think there’s going to be some races that are going to be more difficult than here and probably will suit other teams a bit better. I think 79 points in what, five races and a couple of Sprints? It’s a big challenge but yeah, we’ll give it a go. I think obviously the gap to Aston now is very achievable. But yeah, hopefully we can do it.”
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