Lando Norris: “As long as we continue like this, I’ll be happy”

The 2022 season of McLaren had everything to be catastrophic. After complicated winter tests due to a brake cooling problem in particular and a first Grand Prix in Bahrain to forget for Lando Norris et Daniel Ricciardo, the start of the year promised to be difficult for the men of Woking.

Zak Brown and his gang then set to work to find a solution so as not to be dropped from the championship. Luckily, McLaren quickly got back on track with Lando Norris' podium at Imola from 4^e race after finishing 7^e and 5^e of the two previous Grands Prix. From then on, the English team was able to string together good results to return to the fight for 4^e place among the Manufacturers behind the trio Red Bull-Ferrari-Mercedes.

McLaren owes this improvement in results to its engineering and design teams but also to Lando Norris who almost single-handedly carries the team against Daniel Ricciardo whose difficulties are now obvious to everyone. The Englishman has indeed finished 10 of the 13 races in the points and today asserts himself as the “best of the others” behind the six strong men of the championship who are Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Continue the momentum

« We have a lot of work to do, underlines Lando Norris despite the progress of his team. The gap with the group in front of us is still huge. On Saturday it gets tighter but everyone is close on Saturday, even the last place is much closer. It's just that the gap on Sunday is bigger than it has been in the past, and we need to work on that.

We didn't start the season as well as we wanted. Since the first race I think we have been very good and strong. Considering we're still fighting for fourth place in the Manufacturers' standings against a team (Alpine) which has been much more competitive since day one, this shows how good a job we have done in many areas."

Indeed, McLaren and Alpine are fighting for the 4^e place among the Manufacturers. Currently the ball is in the Blues' court, who have a 4-point lead. To get back in front of the Tricolores, Lando Norris knows what points to rely on during the 2^e part of the season.

« Our consistency, our reliability in many ways, the pit stops, the strategy, a lot of things were done very well, he points. We didn't start as well as we wanted, but I think we've made good progress since then, so as long as we continue like this after the break, I'll be happy. » McLaren knows what it has to do to fulfill the desires of its leader.

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