McLaren driver Lando Norris is delighted with his employer’s turnaround in the 2023 Formula 1 season, but believes Red Bull are (still) in a league of their own
Weak start, strong finish: That’s how you could summarize the 2023 Formula 1 season for the McLaren team
On the first two race weekends of the season (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia), McLaren only made it into the top 10 once in qualifying and the races combined. Starting with the third race weekend (Australia), Lando Norris and Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri slowly got into their stride. And in the summer, the pair really turned up the heat with the revised MCL60.
With a total of nine podium finishes, Norris and Piastri secured fourth place for the McLaren team in the final Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship in 2023. In the first half of the season, the team was still well behind Aston Martin and, at times, Alpine.
In terms of points, McLaren could no longer overtake Mercedes and Ferrari. In terms of pace, however, the traditional British team was the strongest of these three teams more than once in the second half of the season.
“We were clearly behind them for two years,” says McLaren driver Lando Norris in his 2023 season review of the competition from Mercedes and Ferrari. “But while they haven’t made any big steps forward, we’ve taken a huge step. And there will be more steps to come because we now have a base to build on.”
“I think we now know which direction we need to go in,” Norris emphasizes and feels “pride in the whole team”. Recalling the difficult start to the season, the McLaren driver says: “When I think back to Bahrain and how I had pretty much written the season off, seven podiums and all the great moments we experienced were definitely not on the cards.”
“If we had started the season the way we did in the middle of the season, we would now be second in the Constructors’ Championship and the Drivers’ Championship,” Norris is convinced and emphasizes once again: “We are on the right track.”
In the second half of the season, McLaren not only made a name for itself with regular top-three finishes – Norris alone finished in P2 six times. Almost incidentally, they also set the record for the fastest Formula 1 pit stop at the Qatar weekend. Previously, the record had been in the hands of Red Bull.
Overall, however, Norris makes no secret of the fact that McLaren is still a long way off Red Bull. The McLaren driver says of world champion Max Verstappen, who has won no less than 19 of the 22 races this season with the RB19: “He’s doing a good job, Red Bull is doing an excellent job. It’s been like this for two years now. That’s why it won’t be easy for anyone to catch up with them. The step is simply huge.”
“They’re not just better in terms of pace,” Norris points out about the Red Bull team. “They’re also much better in terms of tire wear, as you saw here [in Abu Dhabi]. And Max is simply one of the best drivers. That’s why this is a combination that is very difficult to beat.”
“But I think we’re almost ready to take on this challenge now,” said Norris.
