Lando Norris claims McLaren has caught up to the Max Verstappen-led Red Bull ‘earlier than he expected’

McLaren has so far managed to amass 134 points in the 2024 Constructors Championship.

Lando Norris claims McLaren has caught up to the Max Verstappen-led Red Bull ‘earlier than he expected’

Lando Norris (L), Max Verstappen (R) (images via IMAGO).

Lando Norris has claimed that McLaren has managed to catch up to the pace and performance of Red Bull, earlier than expected. The papaya outfit has shown promise this season and managed to outpace Red Bull on a couple of occasions.

Red Bull has strongly started the 2024 season, winning five out of a possible eight races. But over the course of races in Australia, Miami, and Monaco, the outfit has shown signs of vulnerability, where they have been massively outpaced by Ferrari and McLaren.

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The current season has already seen three different race winners, contrary to Max Verstappen‘s utter dominance in 2023, with only Carlos Sainz being the only non-Red Bull winner in Singapore last year. In light of the improvement in performance for McLaren, Norris has praised the team for their hard work.

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I think all year we've been closer, and I said the beginning of the year that people are going to start to beat Red Bull and catch them. I feel like maybe we started to do that earlier than I expected, but at the same time the guys have bought some good upgrades to the car. 
Lando Norris told the media including RacingNews365.

McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have performed convincingly for the Woking-based team as they now are in a position to wholly challenge for the title this season. The upcoming races of the campaign will demand the same level of performance from the dynamic duo to keep up with the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari.

Andrea Stella calls for time to discover true competitiveness of Red Bull

McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella has aired on the side of caution over challenging Red Bull for the title amid struggles in Miami and Imola. Red Bull has only had one race win in the last three outings, with the team struggling to find pace on few occasions.

Andrea Stella and Max Verstappen
Andrea Stella and Max Verstappen (Via: Imago)
I think the picture of competitiveness for Red Bull is not entirely clear to me. Clearly, Imola and Monaco are two tracks in which riding kerbs and riding bumps is important for performance. To some extent in Miami as well, but not that much. 
Andrea Stella told the media including RacingNews365.

Red Bull has thoroughly faced challenges in tracks where kerbs and bumps have more of a race influence than high-speed circuits, an issue that has been highlighted by Verstappen time and again. McLaren has also faced the same issues but has worked better on generating downforce in the MCL38.

Stella further elaborates that he and the McLaren team will take time to understand the proper limitations of Red Bull, which is essential to their title charge. The races between Canada and Spain will determine how the course of the 2024 season unfolds as fans witness an exciting title battle between the Milton-Keynes based team and the Papayas.

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