“Plenty of ups and downs,” Lando Norris blames ‘bad luck’ for McLaren’s disappointing start to 2023
Lando Norris is eighth is the championship standings after the first three rounds.
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Lando Norris. Image via PlanetF1.
McLaren had a rough start to the 2023 Formula 1 season. At the opener in Bahrain, Lando Norris made six pit stops due to a pneumatic pressure leak. And his rookie teammate, Oscar Piastri, had to retire after 13 laps due to electronic issues. At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Piastri showed promise as he reached Q3 in the MCL60. Both the McLaren drivers struggled to score points in the season’s first two races.
Things turned around for the team at the chaotic Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Norris finished sixth with eight points, and Oscar Piastri scored his first Formula 1 point on his home debut. He finished eighth with four points. McLaren successfully moved to fifth place in the constructor’s championship from the last after the Australian GP. This has been a huge boost for the team. They are now leading the other midfield teams.
Lando Norris shared his thoughts about the first three races of the season. He stated: “There has been plenty of ups and downs. We have been pretty unlucky on the whole, but our strongest weekend has been in Australia by far. Not necessarily on Saturday, but certainly on Sunday. We’ve learned that there are some good parts and some strengths to this car that we want to keep, but there are clearly some weaker areas that we are working on and focused on improving.”
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Lando Norris reveals McLaren will take it one race at a time
Norris further insisted that the team has been doing a good job. “On the whole, the team is doing a very good job, we just need to keep up the level of effort we are putting in. There will be some races where we are performing well and some where we aren’t as strong, so we’ll just take it one race at a time.”
The Briton believes the team wants to maximize every weekend. They are not looking at the bigger picture yet. Despite the rough start to the year, Norris claims they are doing a good job. The team is undoubtedly working hard. The problem is they are struggling with pace. The 23-year-old feels that McLaren needs to step up and do a better job in this aspect.
Lando Norris revealed the team is motivated, mainly because they are working hard and will bring updates in the upcoming races. The team wants to extract the maximum potential speed of the car. Norris believes McLaren will turn things around soon. They have the potential to be the leading midfielders and fight for points every weekend. It is only a matter of time.
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Sugantha Meena
(493 Articles Published)