Lando Norris is pleased to see the development potential of his car this year. McLaren F1 has established a very solid technical foundation with its new MCL38, providing hope and enthusiasm for the British driver.
“Overall, I’m very happy,” he stated. “Could I be happier? Yes. Could we all be? Yes, because we always want more, we always want to be able to compete a bit more.”
“But I think starting the season from such a strong position, while knowing we can still improve in many areas, makes me smile, because we’re in a good place and we know we can get better.”
“12 months ago, the situation was very, very different. We’ve significantly outpaced our competitors from the same time last year. It becomes increasingly difficult as we get closer to the top, but we still have a lot to do.”
“So, I’m satisfied with the step we’ve taken as a team. And I’m very happy with the work ethic and the effort everyone is putting in to try to continue.”
However, the Briton remains cautious about McLaren’s progress, reminding that the MCL60 from the end of last season wasn’t the second force, and the MCL38 is merely an evolution of it.
“There were still many races at the end of last year where we weren’t even close to being the second fastest team. In Abu Dhabi, we weren’t even close to being the second fastest, or the third fastest, or even the fourth.
“So, I would never say we were the second fastest team, and Ferrari overtook us. I want to believe we might have a slightly better package, but I don’t think we’ve yet visited tracks where we’ve seen all our weaknesses, like Zandvoort, and I’m not looking forward to it!”
“The gap with Red Bull was predictable.”
He’s not, however, surprised by Red Bull’s lead at the start of this season and considers Ferrari the team that has made the most progress this winter: “The gap with Red Bull was quite predictable.”
“If you look at when they stopped development last year, they put a lot of time and effort into trying to develop a good car for this year. So, I think being as close to them as we are is a good sign.
“You would probably say the most impressive has been Ferrari, in how they’ve been able to make a very big step, I would say, probably one of the biggest steps from last year to this year.”
“But the fact that we’re still not far behind, I think that’s a very good sign for us. Of course, we always hope for a bit more, and we hoped we could directly compete at the front.”
“But we’ve made a step forward and maybe haven’t been able to tackle some of the problems we’ve struggled with over the past few years. But now more than ever, we’re trying to address these areas.”
Norris Excited by McLaren MCL38’s Potential in F1. Norris Excited by McLaren MCL38’s Potential in F1
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