“It makes us look worse” – Lando Norris reveals how McLaren lost to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship

Lando Norris pointed out the big difference that cost McLaren third place in the 2021 constructors’ championship.

McLaren and Ferrari had a neck to neck battle throughout the season for third place. However, something did not work out well for the British team and led it down a late-season slump.

McLaren driver Lando Norris explained the situation in an end-of-season interview. The 22-year-old said, “our pace probably relative to P1 was quite similar to 2020. But our pace relative to Ferrari… Ferrari went forwards. And Ferrari, compared to the leaders, went forwards.”

“We were in a very similar position, but Ferrari moved forward, especially with the power unit upgrade. It made a big difference for them,” he further added.

Norris also said that the tracks that did not work out so well for McLaren were also the ones that made the Italians stronger.

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Lando Norris says McLaren is strong on only some circuits

The British driver said, “it’s quite simple how you put it together, and then all of it makes sense. It makes us look worse, although we were probably doing exactly the same effort and the same performance every weekend.”

“These simple things can just make us look good or bad and make people change their perspectives of us.”

Furthermore, Like the majority of the teams, McLaren also decided to focus on the 2022 aerodynamic regulations early in the 2021 season. Asked if this could also be one of the reasons behind the late-season difficulties, Norris denied.

“No, I think that most of it have just been that there were only certain circuits we were actually very strong. [The] Red Bull Ring was obviously one of them, Sochi was another. I think if it was a completely dry weekend, and Mercedes were one-two, we still would’ve been probably one second off the pole,” he said.

“It looked much better because the conditions were tricky in qualifying, Mercedes did a terrible job, but we did a good job,” he further added.

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