17/05/2024
NEWS STORY
Despite winning in Miami, Lando Norris believes that McLaren remains the third best team on the 2024 grid.
The Woking outfit introduced a sizeable upgrade package for the American race, most of which was only available to the British driver, however even he admits that the victory was somewhat fortuitous and that the team is not yet capable of fully taking on Ferrari, far less Red Bull.
I think we are better suited to Imola, potentially the upgrade a little bit as well," said Norris as he looked ahead to this weekend. "Imola has generally been one of our most successful tracks as a team and for me as a driver."
Asked if he therefore thinks another win is on the cars, he replied: "I think we definitely took a step forward from what I know. Other teams have upgrades too. So I don't think we're getting ahead of ourselves. I know I've put good confidence forward to the team. I've said that we're confident we can take steps forward, but I think I made it clear that we're not going to be there every weekend.
"I was still sixth at the time and I can, I'm always honest, I'm happily going to say that I was lucky last weekend with the safety car and the strategy worked out perfectly," he admitted. But that's how races go sometimes.
"I wasn't just first because I was the quickest at the time," he continued, "but I was quickest on track. And I think that was the first good sign we had... Then it turned into something more.
"Yeah, we were quickest at the time on track. And I think the whole weekend was turning into something good. And we were showing that the car made some good steps forward. But we need more if we're going to challenge Ferrari more consistently, if we're going to challenge Red Bull more consistently.
"But the team were doing a great job. They made some good steps and we have more things hopefully coming in the future. And those are what we need to be there more often."
Pushed on where he believes the team stands in the pecking order, he said: "We're third. Still third!"
Check out our Friday gallery from Imola here.