McLaren have arguably improved their car the most among any of the teams over the course of the 2023 season. After languishing at the back of the grid at the start of the campaign, the team are now consistently fighting for podiums. Despite the same, Lando Norris has grown increasingly frustrated.
The 23-year-old is unhappy with the way he has performed despite having such a strong car. Even in his most recent interview, the Briton expressed his frustrations with himself despite having produced an outstanding performance in Mexico this past weekend.
Norris gained 12 places in Mexico to finish the race in fifth. While he was satisfied with his performance during the race, he expressed how frustrated he was to miss out on the podium due to his poor qualifying performance.
“Of course I’m going to be disappointed, right? There’s a chance to finish on the podium and get another trophy. Score more points. Why would I ever be happy about a day like [Saturday]? Yeah, I moved on very quickly. I moved on better than I did in Qatar and we put a lot of focus on [the race],” explained Norris (as quoted by speedcafe.com).
Since Norris gained 12 places during the race after starting in 17th, he stated that he was upset with himself because of “what could have been“, only had he qualified better. The McLaren driver had a similar opinion of his performance in Qatar after he managed to finish on the podium despite starting in tenth.
Lando Norris also rued on his missed opportunity in Qatar
Lando Norris expressed his disappointment after the Qatar Grand Prix as he believes he had the pace to win. The Briton explained how he was able to match the pace of race-winner Max Verstappen and could have given the Dutchman a much better fight, had he started second in the race.
“The pace was good enough to win today. A bit more of a knife further in after the last few days, just showing that we had the pace probably to be on top if I didn’t do the mistakes I made earlier in the weekend,” he explained (as quoted by pitdebrief.com).
The Qatar GP was not only disappointing for Norris because of his mistakes but that his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri also outperformed him during both the sprint and the main race. The Australian clinched his first F1 win during the sprint before finishing second in the main race.
On the other hand, Norris finished third in both the sprint and the main race. However, all hope is not lost for Norris and McLaren to register their first Grand Prix win this season.
The team have shown remarkable improvement since the summer break and have often been the closest challengers to Red Bull on most race weekends. If the Woking-based outfit continue to improve, it is unlikely to be long before Norris registers his first win in F1.
