Norris takes heart from Aston Martin’s recovery after slow start for McLaren

Lando Norris believes the recoveries of Aston Martin and Ferrari in recent seasons show there is “no reason” why McLaren cannot turn around their challenging start to 2023.

Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri’s 2023 campaigns got off to difficult starts in Bahrain as McLaren struggled for pace relative to their midfield rivals. Piastri was eliminated from Q1 and retired early in the race, while Norris suffered a pneumatic system leak in his MCL60 which resulted in him pitting six times during the grand prix.

But despite the disappointing race, Norris found cause to be optimistic. He almost reached Q3 in qualifying, finishing 11th, a tenth of a second away from the top ten. Norris described his assessment of McLaren’s place in the pecking order is “tough, but realistic”.

“I think [we’re] in a place we probably expected to be altogether,” he said.

“One thing that’s not been surprising, but one thing that makes it even more difficult, is just how close it is and how many people we’re fighting against. Williams are in the mix more, Haas are in the mix more, Alfa Romeo in the mix more, so that’s made our lives even tougher.

“But from my point of view, P11 was a pretty decent result. I was a tenth-and-a-half to Stroll, who’s clearly much quicker than a tenth-and-a-half ahead of me. The lap ahead then was like a 1’30.8, which is four-tenths or something, which I definitely couldn’t achieve. I think we got everything out of the car, so where I am is where I think we kind of are.”

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Norris says McLaren have already begun to improve the MCL60 from the specification it was in during the pre-season test in Bahrain, which has brought “little” refinements to the drive-ability of the car.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a car that I’m still super-comfortable to just to go out and nail easily,” he explained. “I don’t think anyone’s car is going to be easy to drive. But definitely still tricky.

“Still a lot of thought has to go into each corner, every corner. ‘How can I maximise this?’ You’ve got to take it one corner at a time. So little things that we definitely pushed in the right direction a touch. But it was a touch and it needs several more steps.”

Norris points to Aston Martin, who suffered a disappointing start to the 2022 season before improving significantly through the season, as evidence that McLaren will have the opportunity to improve their own performance while the year goes by.

“I think we’ve clearly seen how big of a step Aston have taken from one year to another,” he said. “We clearly saw how big a step Ferrari took in 2021 to 2022.

“I know both of those were in the off-season and there’s maybe more potential to do such a big change. But there’s no reason why 50% or 75% of that can’t be done through the season. So I would like to think so.”

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McLaren, through Norris, were the only midfield team outside of the top three teams of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes to reach the podium last year. Norris says that reclaiming ground on their midfield rivals will only come from making bigger steps in development than the teams around them.

“We’ve got to improve more than them,” he reasoned. “I think it’s clear as that.

“Every driver on the grid here wants to win and you’re going to be frustrated until you’re in that position. So you’re going to be frustrated if you’re third, if you’re second and you’re going to be frustrated if you’re in 20th. So I don’t think it is frustration. It’s just you want to win, it’s as simple as that. And you are determined and that’s what everyone’s goal is.

“But at the same time, if I want to do that, I need to work as hard as I can now to help the team move in the right direction, give them the best advice and the best feedback that I can to do that, because that’s our goal. We want to win as a team.

“So it’s tough, I accept that. And yes, I want to win, but we all want to win and we know we are trying as hard as we can and we do know that we’ve got to take bigger steps forward than the other teams if we want to beat them.”

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2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

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• Why F1’s 2023 tyres are requiring drivers to change their management style
• The familiar and unfamiliar problems holding McLaren back at the start of 2023
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• “I’m a shouty guy”: Tsunoda told to rein in “emotional” radio chatter

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