After uninterrupted growth after bottoming out in the stage with Honda , McLaren began the 2022 season with many doubts, since its brake problems deprived the Woking team of adding better results.
In this way, the papaya single-seaters crawled at the bottom of the grid in events such as Bahrain or Jeddah, although surprisingly, in just four races they got on the podium thanks to the performance of Lando Norris in the first weekend. to the sprint of the current course in Imola.
The Briton managed to add what would be his sixth podium finish in the highest category of motorsport, and now, after reaching the summer holidays in seventh place in the general classification, a position that gives him the recognition of being ‘the best of the rest’ behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, recalls how that test went.
“For myself and my driving, I’m happy,” Norris said. “Some good moments like for example when I got a podium in Imola, that surprised me. With what we have it is quite an achievement, so that makes me smile, but there are also many positive aspects.”
“Now we have a lot of work to do. The difference with respect to those who are ahead is still huge, I guess on Saturdays we get closer because everyone is closer that day, even if you are the last”, recognized the young Englishman. “The gap on Sunday is bigger, and we have to work on that.”
The one from McLaren has secured his place in Woking for several years, and although he does not know who will occupy the second seat after the legal dispute between Oscar Piastri and Alpine, he only focuses on his career and form.
“First I am going to enjoy my break and then we will work on what we can do for the next time. I think it has been a good start to the year, so I am happy,” he told Formula 1. “The important thing is that we have not as we should in 2022, but what we have done since then has been very good.”
“Considering that we are still fighting for fourth place in the constructors’ championship against a team that has been much more competitive from day one [Alpine], that shows the good work we have done in other areas,” Norris continued. .
However, and despite not having the experience of other drivers on the grid, the Briton knows how to recognize McLaren’s strengths : “Our consistency, reliability in many aspects such as pit stops, strategies or things like that, has served us well “.
“It was just that we didn’t start as well as we wanted, but I think we’ve made a lot of progress since then, so as long as we continue to grow after the break, I’ll be happy,” explained seventh overall after thirteen races.
“You always want to fight for more and higher positions and the gap we have to the top three teams is still big so we need to focus on narrowing it down,” concluded Lando Norris.
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