According to a Mirror report, Norris has been the only person in the 2022 season not driving a Red Bull, Mercedes, or Ferrari to finish on the podium, but the aspirational Englishman isn’t really satisfied with that.
One podium finishes every season is “not enough,” according to Lando Norris, who has intensified his demand on the McLaren team to produce a competitive car for the next campaign.
When Norris came in third at the Emilia Romagna GP, it was his only appearance on the podium this year. No other driver from outside the top three teams did it all season, making it a spectacular accomplishment in and of itself which appears even more impressive now that the season is complete.
- Mattia Binotto’s Expected Replacement Doesn’t Deny The Transfer To Ferrari.
- Ex-F1 Driver Labels Perez ‘A Little Crazy’ After His Comments On Verstappen.
However, Lando Norris isn’t content with that. The aspirational Englishman said he must be an “incredible” driver to have pulled it off, and he made it plain that he desires to be able to do it more frequently in the future.
The 23-year-old said: “A podium always means something to me, it means something to the team but one isn’t enough, One is like we got lucky and all of this stuff. You want to feel like you deserve to be there all of the time.”
“We deserved to be there for sure. We weren’t quick enough to be there, we were way ahead of where we deserved to be but one time isn’t enough for me. It’s not a good enough job by the whole team and again, all of that is down to the car we have had.”
Norris’ words reflected what he said concerning his future with McLaren in October. “I have to have faith that my team can do a good job. [2024] will be our first year in which we have no more excuses,” Norris said, suggesting that if McLaren is unable to match his aspirations, he may move elsewhere for a seat.
For the 2022 campaign, the Woking-based team came in fifth place in the constructors’ championship, 14 points behind Alpine. In a difficult season for McLaren, Norris blamed the team’s unreliable car as the primary factor in their loss to the Renault-backed team.
- Drivers should resign if they are unready for lengthy battles, says Verstappen.
- Russell is ‘knackered’ after his debut season racing with Lewis Hamilton.
Norris added: “Everyone is working hard now. It isn’t like it’s a new thing. We know we’ve had a very tough season. We’ve found it difficult, we’ve been quite up and down. We’ve had a weekend like here where we were quick and then we’ve had Brazil which was one of our worst weekends of the whole season.”
“We’ve had one of the biggest lows and then maybe one of the best highs of the year in the final two weekends, so there’s a lot of understanding still for us, a lot of learning but we need to take a step next year, we have to take a step. I feel like everyone is putting in the effort to do that so time will tell.”
