McLaren struggled with their car’s development ever since the new ground effect regulations came into effect in 2022. But after Team Principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown performed a massive reshuffle within the organization at the start of the 2023 season, the effects in terms of performance both on and off the track were noticed almost instantly.
Combined with the new wind tunnel coming online, McLaren caught up with Red Bull and was the second-fastest car by the second half of the 2023 season. Hence, Lando Norris was able to eventually catch up with Verstappen’s podium dominance.
From the period between the 2022 Bahrain GP to the 2023 Austrian GP, Verstappen scored a total of 26 podiums compared to Norris’ single podium. However, since the 2023 British GP, Norris has caught up with Verstappen massively. The Briton has 18 podiums since then compared to Verstappen’s 23.
Easy way of seeing McLaren’s development strides in catching Red Bull since 2023.
Podiums from Bahrain 2022 to Austria 2023
Max Verstappen – 26
Lando Norris – 1Podiums from Silverstone 2023 to Singapore 2024
Max Verstappen – 23
Lando Norris – 18 pic.twitter.com/EVLcP89vBO— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) October 8, 2024
Norris and McLaren started behind Red Bull in the 2024 season. However, the Papaya Team caught up by the sixth race of the season and is now the fastest team on the grid. McLaren is already leading the constructors’ championship with Norris rapidly catching Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.
Norris’ Podiums since the start of 2022
2022
The new ground effect era has allowed all teams a fresh start. McLaren weren’t near Red Bull’s pace and were comfortably in the midfield. Norris did comparatively well compared to then-teammate Ricciardo but only had one podium to show for the season.
The podium came in Imola in changing conditions as Charles Leclerc spun towards the end of the race from a podium position, handing it to Norris in P4.
2023
2023 started even worse than 2022 as McLaren was at the back of the grid. However, they quickly caught up and were podium contenders in the Austrian GP. They became the second-best team and took their first podium of the season in Great Britain. Soon the podiums started flowing in. Norris went on to score a total of seven podiums that season.
2024
McLaren had been behind Red Bull since the start of the current season, consistently scoring podiums. However, this time around, they had competition from Ferrari and Mercedes as well to compete for podiums. Soon Red Bull was left behind in the development race as McLaren took the top spot.
The first podium came in Australia followed by three consecutive podiums in China, Miami, and Imola. Miami was also Norris’ first-ever win in F1. The Briton went on to score podiums in Canada, Spain, Britain, Hungary, and Italy. He also won the races in the Netherlands and Singapore.
