McLaren starlet Lando Norris says that fighting the front runners on track in 2021 gave him a lot of confidence to do better.
Norris had a stellar 2021 season with McLaren, bagging four podium finishes, including a career-best 2nd place finish at Monza. His performances have drawn praises from drivers, pundits, and fans worldwide.
The young driver made his F1 debut just two seasons ago and is already being tipped as a future World Champion. This year, his strong outings mean that he spent quite some time fighting at the front of the grid.
Norris feels that being able to race against the best made him feel more confident this year. However, he had to adjust the way he duelled with the front-runners, taking a different approach while racing.
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“They’re not just in better cars. But generally the guys who are in better cars are also going to be the more experienced or better drivers.” said Norris.
“So there’s a little bit more pressure, because you know that they’ll think of every plan or strategy possible for how to get past you and so on.”
“That’s the only thing, is that you know that they will be thinking of every single thing possible in order to attack you and to race against you and overtake you.”
Lando Norris aims to be at par with the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen in the near future
Norris finished P6 in this year’s Championship. The 22-year-old was sitting comfortably at P4 halfway into the season. During the latter half, a slump in form saw him slip down to 6th.
The Bristol-born driver’s next aim is to battle with and challenge the best drivers on track consistently.
“The only thing it really gives you is confidence. If you’re there more often or you have a better car. Then there’s no reason why they should be able to beat you if you’re in the same car.” said Lando.
“Every time I raced against Lewis or Bottas, or Max or Perez. I think the only thing it really gives you is more confidence.”
“That you know that, when you are more often in this position. Whether it’s next year or in two years. Then you feel ready to race against them all the time and ready to beat them.” the McLaren driver concluded.
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