“Toughest start to a Formula 1 year I’ve ever had,” Lando Norris discloses the hardships of driving his McLaren at the back of the grid
Lando Norris confides about his trials and tribulations at McLaren as the team is not at all competent right now.
Follow Us
When Lando Norris entered Formula 1 with McLaren in 2019, they were regularly fighting with Renault and ended their run in the fourth place in the points table behind Ferrari. In the subsequent Champion’s campaign in 2020, the F1 world witnessed a wonder as the papaya squad left the Scuderia as well as a revamped Racing Point behind to get a third-place finish at the World Championship standings. But now, the tables have turned and for the first time in his F1 career, Lando Norris has to race at the back of the grid.
In 2021 and in 2022, Daniel Ricciardo shifted from Renault to McLaren to partner up with Lando Norris, but the Australian hardly found any prospective results during his short tenure. At the start of the current season, McLaren prematurely terminated their deal with Ricciardo as they blamed him for their poor results, and took up 2021 F2 World Champ Oscar Piastri. Even then, there is hardly any improvement in McLaren as they are lagging behind all their competitors in the sixth place on the points table, with only 14 points to their name.
Lando Norris experienced his most recent awful experience at a Grand Prix in Montreal. Despite his masterful overtaking maneuver at the end of the race, the Briton ended up in P13. And his teammate Piastri, who has a lot of expectations to live up to in this season, narrowly missed out on a points finish. Getting candid about his current situation as one of the lowest-scoring racers with just 12 points, he said, “I always want to go faster. Of course it was a tough start. It’s the toughest start to a Formula 1 year I’ve ever had. It’s so difficult, especially when you’re not always fighting for points, that definitely makes it more difficult.”
Lando Norris has very low expectations from the rest of McLaren’s 2023 season
McLaren started this reason with their eyes set on surpassing their chief rival Alpine in the points table and also giving a good fight to Ferrari–but the current situation is far from what they had hoped for. Lando Norris commented, “If we went back to other tracks, we’d be just as bad. The car hasn’t changed. As I said, it’s not the car, we haven’t changed anything. The first real upgrade of the season will be come next time.”
No matter the trials of 2023, McLaren can improve their results in the upcoming seasons. Former F1 racer Mikka Hakkinen even claimed that the papaya squad has enough potential to usurp Red Bull from their top position once they use their resources for the right purposes. Now, it remains to be seen whether McLaren manages to live up to the expectations of Hakkinen or if they falter once again in 2024.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)