One more season, Lando Norris is being the standard-bearer for McLaren in the highest category of motorsport, and that does not go unnoticed by the rest of the teams. The young British driver has not stopped taking steps forward in the 2022 season, going from finishing 15th in Bahrain, to 7th in Jeddah, 5th in Australia and 3rd, his first podium of the year, in Imola.
After completing the first four races of the campaign, the Englishman already has 35 points in his locker, compared to 11 points for his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
Norris was one of the big surprises in his first three seasons in Formula 1, with a sixth position and four podium finishes in 2021, his best result to date. Thus, Zak Brown (CEO of McLaren ), refuses to think of any other driver than himself.
Asked if Norris had raised the bar this year, Brown had this to say: “Yes. In my opinion, no one in Formula 1 is better than him. He’s unbelievably fast. But there are a lot of fast drivers in Formula 1.”
“I think what impresses me most about Lando is how few mistakes he makes. He goes beyond the limits of the track but you don’t often see him crash or go off the tarmac. As for pure natural talent, I don’t think anyone has more. than him in Formula 1,” he said.
Without a doubt and despite his good numbers, one of Norris ‘s biggest thorns continues to be the lack of victories in the world championship: with six podiums, he is one of the ten riders who has signed the most top 3 finishes without winning, along with Carlos Sainz.
However, Zak Brown is reminiscent of the opportunities he had and lost last year, in particular a Russian Grand Prix which he led for almost every lap before the rain came a few laps from the end and the Briton bet on continuing using slick tires.
“I think as long as we keep making progress, he will be convinced that his victory is not that far away,” Brown said. “He could have won three races in a row last year. In Monza, nothing separated him from Daniel; in Russia, without the wrong decision at the end, he won; and in Spa, he was by far the fastest in qualifying until his accident, for which could have won three in a row”.
“In short, I think he is ready to win, we just have to put him in a position so that he can win. Which seems complicated at the moment, the supremacy of Ferrari and Red Bull being clear,” the McLaren CEO concluded.
