McLaren banking on upgrades to get ‘one step closer’ to beating Red Bull in 2024

Lando Norris has claimed that the upgrades will play a key role in their chances this season.

McLaren banking on upgrades to get ‘one step closer’ to beating Red Bull in 2024

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (image via IMAGO)

McLaren has been a few steps short of catching Red Bull, despite being the faster team pretty much throughout the 2024 season. Lando Norris has since talked of his team’s requisites to further improve the on-track performances.

Lando Norris has been a consistent performer for the Papayas this year, amassing 199 points so far. He has, however, been far from effective during the crucial moments of a race, which has cost him multiple probable wins.

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The 24-year-old has shown optimism, speaking highly in favor of the team’s upgrades at the ongoing Dutch GP race weekend. Norris has further exclaimed that the recent advancements hold a major stake in the Woking-based outfit’s hopes moving forward.

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I think we can beat Red Bull this year because it has happened many times in the last two or three months. We have some updates on the car and I hope they bring us one step closer.
Lando Norris via Formu1a.uno

The Dutch GP has been an utterly dominant venue for Red Bull since 2021. The Milton-Keynes-based outfit will perform similarly this weekend while McLaren will try to spoil their hopes in an exciting matchup between the two.

Lando Norris explains reasons behind McLaren’s delayed implementation of upgrades

McLaren has been one of the fastest teams on the grid despite bringing the fewest upgrades. The outfit has not made any significant changes to the MCL38 since the Miami GP earlier this campaign.

Lando Norris
Lando Norris (via IMAGO)
In a good sense, we've taken our time to try and understand things well, and we've seen other teams put things on the car and it not necessarily work. We wanted to make sure we avoided that. So, we were patient. I think we've paid the price the last four races, but we've had some great races compared to some other teams who had upgrades.
Lando Norris via motorsport

Lando Norris claimed that McLaren focused mainly on understanding the functioning of their current package before iterating on a newer one. He then exclaimed that while the team might not have been at its best during the past four races, they are happy with their results so far.

The Papayas are set to bring in major floor and front wing upgrades at the upcoming race at Zandvoort this week. They will hope to have made the correct bets and calculations on their upgrades as they look to secure the win on Sunday.

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