Lando Norris claims that he is ‘optimistic’ about McLaren’s chances to match Red Bull in 2024

McLaren has been the hot topic recently as the Woking-based team is seriously competing with Red Bull in the late-season. In the recent Brazilian GP, Lando Norris had the pace to potentially even beat Max Verstappen for the victory.

The updates bought to the MCL60 after the mid-season break seem to working out in the team’s favor. Lando Norris has been finishing under the top five consistently for the past six races. The team has also surpassed Aston Martin in the constructors championship with ease.

Subsequently, Lando Norris acknowledged the massive steps that the team is taking in the right direction. He was also appreciative of the team for creating a chance to fight with the dominant Red Bulls. Norris even complimented the Red Bulls over their performance this season.

We've taken some massive steps forward and at the same time, considering we’re talking about fighting the Red Bull, I think it's still a very, very good thing what we've achieved this year. We're talking about one of the best drivers in Formula 1 ever, in one of the most dominating cars.

Norris said, as reported by autosport.com.

The Briton recalled the disappointing start to the season for McLaren and reflected upon how far the team had come from there. Norris termed these as ‘good signs’ for the team. Subsequently, the 23-year-old added his optimism over the fact and reassured his faith in the team.

For us to go from where we were in Bahrain to getting close and fighting a Red Bull, I think are very good signs for us. We know we still have plenty more things to come next year, so I'm excited. There’s no point thinking of it until next year but I'll be optimistic and I believe we can do it as a team.

Andrea Stella commented on McLaren’s progress compared to Red Bull

Team Principal Andrea Stella showered his appreciation to the engineers for the newfound pace in the car. Stella claimed that McLaren’s new updates gave them a great starting point for the car for the next year. Additionally, he claimed that the six or seven months of gradient development down the season are equally crucial for the car.

The Italian also talked about the necessities for the car for next year. He coined the aerodynamic and mechanical development as the most crucial point to develop the car over. This part was more necessary than the starting point according to the 52-year-old McLaren team boss.

McLaren has been actively competing with Red Bull and has shown an amazing rate of development. With just two races remaining in the calendar, the team has held the fourth spot in the Constructors’ Championship comfortably. The threats from Aston Martin to overtake the team have been diminished now.

In case you missed it:

• Max Verstappen wishes he could buy F1 to allow drivers to speak out against ‘too many rules’
• Former F1 team owner claims McLaren’s call to leave Honda was the ‘worst decision’ by the team

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