Lando Norris made his F1 debut in 2019 with McLaren and this is his fifth season with the team. Despite having spent so much time with the Papayas, the British driver has yet to win a race. Now, coming into Japan, Norris devised a plan with his teammate Oscar Piastri – who is in P2 for Sunday’s race – that could finally give him a win. He wishes for Piastri to have the same incident with Max Verstappen that Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had at the same venue back in 1990, as per the post-race press conference.
Norris was very close to winning a Grand Prix back in Russia in 2021. However, his decision to stay out despite rainy conditions gifted the win to Lewis Hamilton. From there on, the British driver never had any real opportunity of winning a race.
Hello, hello. P3 😁 pic.twitter.com/JyUy0ScM7I
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) September 23, 2023
As McLaren made a huge upliftment this season, Norris is very confident about his winning chances. Furthermore, he has been the better driver at the Woking-based team. Therefore, him taking the first win could be just a wait of the hour.
Norris revealed his improvised plan for the GP win
During the post qualification press conference at the Japanese Grand Prix, Norris was asked about his stance on the upcoming race in Suzuka. He was giving his take on Verstappen. who took the pole on Saturday.
Answering questions, he said as per the FIA, “We’re going to try. I mean, if he’s leading by Turn 2 there’s not a lot you can really do. If you want to emulate Prost, Oscar, into Turn 1… I mean Ayrton Senna into Turn 1 you can do that happily! It would be lovely for me! So yeah, I think we’ll try.”
Mega job in qualifying at the #JapaneseGP. 🇯🇵 Let’s chase down Max tomorrow as a team! 👊 pic.twitter.com/COsIK1mwul
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 23, 2023
Nevertheless, the McLaren driver is happy with his MCL60 as he is confident about taking a win this season. Furthermore, he is also happy with his performance at Suzuka, where he finished P3 in qualifying on Saturday.
How close is Lando Norris as compared to Max Verstappen?
Following the mega rise in the 2023 F1 season, McLaren is one of the closest teams to Red Bull. Therefore, Lando Norris had a few tenths off Verstappen, which gave the British team a massive impetus.
Admittedly, this has been one of the most astonishing seasons for the British team. They began the season as underdogs, however, from the Austrian GP onwards, it was a different McLaren.
All in all, the Woking-based team is still in P5 in the standings. Even though they got the better of Alpine, who were their direct rivals, they are eying Aston Martin to secure P4 in the constructors’ championship standings.
