Lando Norris claims it was “not a surprise” as Alpine dethrone McLaren from 4th place in the Constructors championship after the 2022 Japanese GP.
Lando Norris scored the only point for McLaren in the rain-soaked 2022 Japanese GP. The Briton finished P10, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished P11.
The race ended with further disappointment for McLaren as the team dropped to 5th in the Constructor’s standings. And the team were beaten by Alpine.
Esteban Ocon beat the two Mercedes’s to claim P4. While Fernando Alonso claimed P8 after losing a position to Sebastian Vettel by a whisker, 0.01 seconds!
The Woking-based team now trail Alpine by 13 points. And this isn’t news for Lando who reacted by saying, “Not good news, but not a surprise.”
The upgrades Alpine bought to Suzuka proved consequential and helped them beat both Mercedes. But the car has been much faster than other midfield cars and therefore, does not surprise the McLaren driver.
Lando said, “Like I’ve said many times, they’re much quicker than us. I have no clue how we’re still fighting them in the championship.”
He added, “They are another league to us at the minute. And yet we were somehow ahead, maybe not after today!”
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Lando Norris takes a jab at Alpine
Lando Norris had previously accepted that the Alpine A522 was a much faster car compared to the MCL36. But compared to McLaren, the French team have not been able to convert the car’s performance into points.
Alpine has suffered twice the retirements McLaren has and has lost out on key points. Compared to that McLaren scored the only podium by a team outside of the top 3.
Lando feels his team have done well with the car and can improve their performance too. And did not leave a chance to take a jab at his team’s rivals.
He said, “I’m happy we’ve been able to fight them so far into the season. It shows we’ve done a good job in all other areas, with reliability, maximising our performances, taking opportunities, and not making mistakes.”
Lando adds, “They must’ve done a lot worse than us in all of those areas to only just be ahead of us in the championship with the car that they have.”
Yet Norris is ahead of both Alpine drivers in the 2022 Driver’s standings. The Brit has scored 101 points of the team’s 130, a whopping 77% of the total tally.
One point good enough for Lando Norris
Wet Weather and Lando have not had the best endings. The Briton lost out on an easy race win, while he was leading the 2021 Russian GP due to slippery conditions caused by rain.
Norris feels he did well this time in Suzuka. He spoke about it in the post-race interview, “Yeah, I guess I am happy with the point. I lost a lot of positions in the first start, had just a lot of wheelspin and dropped a huge amount.”
Lando lost a lot of positions at the start of the race. But McLaren made an early pitstop following the restart and fit his car with the favourable intermediate tyres.
Fortunately, the race strategy worked well for Lando. And the Briton feels the single point claimed by the team was good enough.
He added, “But one point is better than nothing. I think I was P14 or P15 on the restart. So, I’m happy, it’s one point; it’s not a lot but it’s what we’ve got to settle for today.”
The Briton says there is enough time for the team to re-claim the 4th place. The rounds in USA, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, and the sprint race in Interlagos mean there will be an intense battle for P4 between Alpine and McLaren.
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