Norris admits 'a little bit of the happiness is gone' at McLaren

Norris and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who is back at his home race after two years, took McLaren to fourth place in the constructors' championship last year. In 2022, however, the team leaves behind only Aston Martin and Williams, both of whom have yet to score any points.

Norris says morale has dropped at McLaren

In Jeddah, Norris managed to grab six points with his seventh-place finish, but he admits that the mood at the team had dropped considerably before then. "When you have points and you have success and podiums, there's always a rise in morale," he says in conversation with Formula1.com.

He explains that there are expectations that he and his team want to meet and that they are never so happy with a P16 compared to, say, a seventh or eighth place. "So, there's always just a little bit of our happiness gone," he adds.

Like team-mate Ricciardo, Norris believes McLaren have a long way to go to fight their way back to the front. The most important thing is that everyone stays motivated, Norris says. "Even if it's two months of struggling, or six, seven, eight races of struggling," he said. He is confident that everyone has the confidence that the team can get back to where it 'should be.'