Toto Wolff praises the performance of Lando Norris, who won his first Formula 1 race in Miami – Mercedes is proud of its customer McLaren
Lando Norris has won a Formula 1 race in Miami for the first time in his career – and the likeable Briton is receiving plenty of praise from many of his rivals. Among the well-wishers was Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who praised McLaren’s strong performance. Norris’ racing team relies on Mercedes engines, so the works team draws motivation from McLaren’s performance.
“First of all, I’m delighted for Lando,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “This was long overdue, also for McLaren. We’ve just looked at the results from last year, when they were 16th and 19th, I think. It’s good for us to see that they were so far away and now they’re winning races.”
McLaren has struggled to keep up with the top teams since the introduction of the ground effect cars in 2022. Instead of taking steps forward as planned, Zak Brown’s racing team experienced a number of setbacks because the cars were not competitive. However, with Andrea Stella as team principal, the team has worked hard on performance and McLaren looks set to reap the first rewards in 2024.
In the 2023 season, McLaren was still somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Miami: Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri didn’t even make it into Q2. The young duo finished 17th and 19th in the race. Just one year later, both McLaren cars were at the front and battling it out with the top teams, Red Bull and Ferrari.
Wolff also sees the progress: “And fair and square, he was the fastest man today, they had the fastest car – with Mercedes power! That is also pleasing. That’s good motivation for us. Congratulations to the squad. Piastri had a great race, but the result then turned around.” Piastri was only classified 13th after a collision
Mercedes is hoping for a similar development to McLaren, as the Brits have made great strides forward with upgrades to the car. Mercedes already has its own updates in the pipeline, but the parts still have to be tested and prepared for their first use. However, the Mercedes engine seems to be competitive, as McLaren proves.
Mercedes believes in the turnaround, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are behind Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in the 2024 Formula 1 season. However, Wolff wants to take a leaf out of McLaren’s book and turn things around together with his team. Norris has set the bar high and achieved an important milestone in his career with his first victory
