Lando Norris admits his focus on the Formula 1 championship has lessened his satisfaction from race wins, noting that his celebrations have been more subdued this season as he aims for a bigger goal.
Lando Norris states that now, returning to the world championship race, victories bring less satisfaction. The McLaren F1 driver notes this in how he celebrated his two wins this season.
“Yes, the simplest thing is to see how I celebrated Miami and how I celebrated Zandvoort,” Norris explained. “I didn’t really party in Zandvoort, I just punched the air and smiled a bit, but that’s all.”
“If I had been completely out of the championship, I probably would have partied more, but since I know it means something for a bigger perspective, I felt it was a smaller thing that day and it had a meaning.”
“A win always means as much to someone, it’s just a win right now because my goal is bigger than a race win. It’s not as satisfying because I’m working towards something bigger.”
“We have changed, I think the whole team has changed the way we even celebrate a top 5 or being on the podium last year. Now, we’re celebrating four wins this year and pole positions.”
The team “is not yet used to” winning
However, the British driver assures that McLaren is not jaded by victory: “You get a bit used to it, the team gets a bit used to it, but it still means a huge amount.”
“It’s always a reward for the hard work we do, but for now, we have more important goals than winning a race over a weekend. I think we can be satisfied but, to be happy, I think we need to reach our goal at the end of the year.”
“The 59 points don’t change my thoughts, but I feel good. For many races now, I’ve felt confident going into each weekend, and especially after last weekend, we are convinced we can be strong and compete with Ferrari and Red Bull, though it’s always tough.”
“Ferrari is performing very well. If you look at how closely Charles [Leclerc] was able to follow Oscar throughout the race, it’s clear they had a much faster car than ours. I think we are still competing with very fast cars and it will be the same this weekend.”
McLaren “pushing its limits”
McLaren is at the heart of a budding controversy over a “mini-DRS” that appeared on its wing in Baku, the movable fin slightly lifting at the end of the straight. Norris denies that the British team did anything illegal.
“Everything has been tested, everything is legal. We are doing what we can, that’s what Formula 1 is about: exploring everything that conforms to the rules. We have passed all the tests and everything and the FIA is happy.”
“So I am proud now, I am happy with what the team is doing: they are pushing the limits and that’s what you need to do if you want to fight at the top and compete against people who are also known for doing such things and exploring all possible areas. Now, I am even prouder of the team pushing all possible areas.”
“We’ve never been in situations where we could do this in the past, but now we are in that position, so I am very pleased. It’s really a cool thing to see in my opinion.”
“There are so many rules, there are so many things in place, but teams, including us, find ways to explore and look at different things that others haven’t thought of. Even if you see us doing it, there are many other teams doing it too, and you don’t see everything on TV.”
“Maybe you haven’t led a race and you don’t see it on certain cameras and others, but it’s not just us. It’s a big game, it’s a big race, but from my side, I am very pleased with what my team has done.”
Four teams poised for victory
Norris is convinced that Red Bull will respond, as McLaren has taken the lead among the constructors. He believes that Baku demonstrated the RB20’s potential to improve, and he also does not rule out Ferrari and Mercedes in the battle for victory.
“Checo [Pérez] was very fast last weekend. He might have had one of the fastest cars of the entire weekend, including during the race. So I think they are not maximizing their results even when they have a quite fast car, as was the case last weekend.”
“We are in a good fight with Ferrari and Mercedes at the same time. I think Mercedes has been very fast. Ferrari seems to be the best team at the moment, apart from us. So it’s exciting, it’s a tight battle.”
“But I don’t think anyone should underestimate Red Bull. I think they were probably even faster than us last weekend when you look at things. That means we still have to work hard, we need to improve. But we regularly outperform them and that’s why we can afford not to have a perfect weekend sometimes, but we need to maximize those weekends where we can get everything right.”
“We know we are very close to other teams in terms of pace, but there will be—as in recent years and probably forever in Formula 1—tracks that suit you a bit better, others less so.”
“Oscar still won the race without the fastest car, so it’s possible. I still finished fourth and we had a very good day.”
“We know we still need to improve, we still have areas to work on. There are certain areas where Ferrari is very fast, there are certain areas where Red Bull is fast, and the same goes for Mercedes. So, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.”
“We still have weaknesses and we just need to make them maybe less challenging to face sometimes. But we have a lot of competition and four very strong teams, so it’s tough right now.”
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Norris: Victory Celebrations Diminished by Title Hunt Norris: Victory Celebrations Diminished by Title Hunt. f1 2024 Norris: Victory Celebrations Diminished by Title Hunt
