Lando Norris has had a stellar rise in the five years he has competed in F1 so far. From being just another rookie, the Briton managed to become one of the closest challengers to Max Verstappen this season. However, wins and championships still elude the talented 24-year-old. The only time Norris came agonizingly close to securing his maiden win was in Sochi in 2021.
Sky Sports experts recently discussed about Norris’ career so far and the driver line-up that McLaren currently have with Oscar Piastri as the Briton’s teammate. In a YouTube video by Sky Sports F1, Simon Lazenby asked Martin Brundle and Noami Schiff about Norris’s chances of winning a race and a world title at Woking.
On this, Schiff appreciated the 24-year-old, while analyzing McLaren’s readiness for 2024. She said, “He [Norris] is special. He has been waiting very long already to get to this point. You got to say now they are as close as they have ever been at least in the time Lando’s been with the team, to potentially have those wins.”
Schiff also mentioned how Norris reiterated his wish to win the championship for the Woking team, in a couple of conversations with her. She cited how the Briton has waited patiently for his maiden win and believes it can happen in 2024.
Besides this, even Brundle shared his thoughts on McLaren’s 2023 turnaround. The former McLaren driver mentioned how Oscar Piastri won the Qatar GP sprint and proved to be a strong teammate for Norris. Thus, this driver duo could be challenging Red Bull if things fall in the right place in 2024.
What is limiting Lando Norris to break his win jinx?
Lando Norris finished six times in P2 in the second half of the 2023 season. While Red Bull’s supreme pace was a major factor in Norris being second-best, it also puts the McLaren star in a tough place mentally. Norris is quite self-critical and despite the apparent deficit of his car to the RB19, his reflection on his P2 finishes can sound pessimistic.
Admittedly, the 24-year-old stated after losing the Brazil GP sprint to Max Verstappen, “I always think of what could’ve been or what can it be, you know. And forget sometimes to look at where we were in the beginning of the year.”
Regardless, overall Norris feels good and optimistic about the Woking team’s progress from the start of the season. After finishing last in the season opener in Bahrain, the driver from Bristol ended the campaign with a total of seven podiums.
Norris feels good to have competed with Max Verstappen at the front of the field. He has highlighted how McLaren has evolved to challenge the dominant teams too. However, this positivity often disappears on the race track for the 24-year-old against the three-time champion.
Norris started on the front row and in the top four multiple times in the second half of the season. While trying to compete with Verstappen, the Briton rarely went all out to try and beat the Red Bull driver and get ahead.
The Brazil sprint race and the Japanese GP main race are classic examples of this. It could be due to the McLaren man not feeling that it was worth the risk against Verstappen’s supreme machinery. Still, there may be some mental pressure on Norris that is restricting him from getting his elusive maiden win.
