Lando Norris acknowledges that McLaren has some catching up to do before they can challenge Ferrari and Red Bull for race victories. He admits that due to the pace deficit compared to these top teams, winning races is not something McLaren can expect in the near future.
Despite McLaren’s promising start to the season, highlighted by Norris’s podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix, they still face challenges. In the recent Japanese Grand Prix, Norris found Ferrari’s race pace too formidable to overcome, underscoring McLaren’s need to address this weakness.
Currently, McLaren sits behind Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of pace but ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. However, Norris is realistic about McLaren’s prospects, conceding that a race win is currently beyond their reach.
“Not anytime soon, that’s for sure,” Norris acknowledged, recognizing the gap McLaren needs to bridge to compete at the highest level.
“I think we can, right place, right time if we improve the car how we need to. Honestly, there weren’t too many frustrations with Suzuka, I think everything went pretty much as expected.
“I don’t think we did the the perfect job and I think we probably should have finished one place higher up potentially, but I don’t think it was far off.
“We’ve been the same place all season, we’ve been behind Red Bull, we’ve been behind Ferrari and we’ve been a bit of a step ahead of the other two teams come the race. So I don’t think there’s too many frustrations.
“But we know the issues, we know what we have to improve and if we can improve them, think Andreas’ right, I think we can we can win races this year and we can be competitive with these other two teams ahead of us.”
With the Chinese Grand Prix looming, Norris remained cautious when assessing McLaren’s potential for a strong performance compared to their outing at Suzuka two weeks prior.
Acknowledging McLaren’s difficulties during their last appearance at the Shanghai International Circuit in 2019, Norris pointed out that regulations have undergone significant changes since then.
“Probably not as high as Suzuka,” remarked Norris. “I think that’s our opinion, but still in a good position. We’ve been happy with how the season started.”
“I think we’re in a good qualifying battle with Aston Martin, Mercedes is very close and even [in Japan] ahead of Ferrari, but I think the order is still clear and I think in racing we’ve done a good job.
“Not as good as Red Bull and Ferrari, but ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes, so I think we’re in a good spot. This wasn’t a great circuit for us in 2019 but many things have changed since then. So I’m optimistic we can have a good weekend.”
