Coming into the second half of the 2023 season, McLaren made a mega jump to bring themselves right to the top. The Papayas who were once struggling to find points are now competing for the podium places, that too, despite having Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin all in the mix. Now, Lando Norris who has been with the team since 2019 has shown a newfound confidence in the team and as per Motorsport Total, said that he wants to win with them.
After having a couple of mid-table years in F1, the Woking-based team needed to come out in front to hold on to talents like Norris. This was despite them having a woeful start to the year, when both of their drivers went point-less in the opening two games.
Pace is good, back for more tomorrow pic.twitter.com/6ieTtxKJMg
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) September 22, 2023
However, the Austrian GP, and subsequently the British GP saw the mighty rise of the Woking-based team. From there on it was a different McLaren, and it gave Norris a ray of hope despite failing to win a race with them so far.
McLaren’s improvement saw Norris put his faith in them
The improvement in McLaren in 2023 saw Zak Brown and Co’s team get comprehensively better compared to the initial few races. Therefore, it gave Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri a much needed impetus against the likes of the top four teams in the standings.
Notably, this was the reason why the 23-year-old found a new faith in them. Talking about this, he said as per Motorsport Total, “I’ve always said that I want to win with McLaren. And I think We are getting closer and closer to this goal. And not just to win races, but also to win championships, both in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.”
Plenty of laps, plenty of data! 💪
FP2 rounds off a solid Friday for us at Suzuka, now attention turns to Saturday and Sunday… 👀#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/J8NnslLYpD
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 22, 2023
“I want to do that with McLaren. I’m very happy there. If I So if I were to spend 10 or 15 years there, I would never say no,” further asserted the McLaren star. With few races to go, the Woking-based team still has chances to fetch a win this season.
Norris believes the team can make more progress from here on
McLaren Racing’s MCL60 is one of the best cars this year. Red Bull holds the edge over every other team, but still MCL60s, however, showed signs of spark, often finishing as the second-best car on the grid.
Nevertheless, Lando Norris believes there is still time for him to fetch a win this season as he thinks the team is getting closer to their goal. This comes even after the British driver criticized his team after Singapore GP. The Papayas stand in P5 of the Constructors’ championship with 139 points.
They are well ahead of their direct competitors Alpine this season and therefore are most likely to hunt Aston Martin for P4 in the standings. With seven more races to go, McLaren will need to cover up a gap of 79 points if they want to take the position away.
