Lando Norris has been in the form of his life as he has finished on the podium on two occasions in the past three races. With him and McLaren having an outstanding resurgence from their disastrous start to the year, the Briton believes that his time will come to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull for wins. However, McLaren strategist Randy Singh explained on the most recent episode of The Fast And The Curious podcast about why doing so will be far from easy.
The dominance of the Milton Keynes outfit is clear this year as they have won all 12 races. Verstappen has won 10 of them, whereas Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull has won the other two. The only thing that has changed this season is the rivals that have come closest to beating them.
The 2023 season began with Aston Martin fighting for podium spots. A few weeks after, Mercedes joined the fight followed by Ferrari. And now, it seems that it is McLaren‘s turn. Despite the optimism that the Woking-based outfit has brought about, Singh yet seems to have his reservations.
McLaren strategist answers if Lando Norris can beat Max Verstappen
While appearing on the most recent episode of The Fast And The Curious podcast, the interviewers asked Randy Singh if he believed that McLaren and Lando Norris can challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull for wins this year. The interviewers asked Singh this question as McLaren have already made significant improvements this year.
In reply, the McLaren strategist said, “I think Red Bull are clearly the class of the field at the moment. I think there is a gap in performance that makes it very difficult to beat Max and Red Bull. So, I think at the moment, it will take something for any team to be in that situation“.
Singh has his reservations about McLaren’s ability to beat Red Bull this year as he believes that “nothing is short-term in Formula 1“. However, he did make it clear that the British outfit will try their absolute best to fight for wins this year.
When it comes to Red Bull, no team has even come close to winning this season. While the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes have been able to grab a few pole positions, they just do not have the pace to fight the Milton Keynes outfit in the main race.
Red Bull will be aiming to script history this year
Considering that Red Bull have already scripted history by winning a record 13 consecutive races (1 last season), they can extend that stat even further in the second half of the 2023 season. Many believe that the Milton Keynes outfit can also go unbeaten this season, a record that undoubtedly would be the most historic in the sport.
While other teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes have had their own record-breaking runs with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton respectively, Red Bull’s recent run is one of a kind. For example, Schumacher created a record of winning five consecutive Drivers’ Championships with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004.
Meanwhile, Hamilton and Mercedes scripted a record by winning eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships from 2014 to 2021. However, even these teams and drivers were not able to come even close to winning all the races of a single season. The biggest hope that Red Bull’s rivals may have this year is the street race in Singapore, one in which the Milton Keynes outfit are expected to have some troubles.
Moreover, another positive sign for the rival teams would be that since Red Bull have already begun working on the 2024 car, they may not bring enough upgrades to go unbeaten this year. Hence, the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and McLaren may be able to challenge for some wins in the second half of the 2023 season.
