Norris puts pressure on McLaren: 'Then there are no more excuses'

Lando Norris balks that McLaren is not as competitive this year as expected beforehand. The Brit now looks forward to 2024 in particular. That year, according to him, there are no more excuses for McLaren and they need to perform.

McLaren had been on the upward trajectory in recent years. The departure of Honda and the arrival of Andreas Seidl and James Key gave the team a new face. With Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and later Daniel Ricciardo, the team also got new drivers to push the project upwards. That went well, until 2022.

Indeed, this season McLaren falls back to fifth place among constructors after a long advance. Fourth place is still achievable due to Alpine's many dropouts, but Norris himself acknowledges that the French racing stable has built a better car. Disappointment is therefore definitely present this year for the 22-year-old driver.

''I didn't expect us to be on the podium every weekend. But our goal was to be closer to the top teams. Unfortunately we are further away. It's frustrating. But there's not much I can do about it,'' the McLaren driver said to Auto, Motor und Sport.

In February, Norris signed a new contract at McLaren that will keep him with the team until 2025. The Briton also revealed he had had talks with Red Bull Racing, but was more confident in his own team. Norris therefore called it a "nightmare" when it emerged in Bahrain that McLaren had not done its homework properly around the new regulations.

Since that heavy setback in Bahrain (no points for either driver), McLaren has become more competitive again, though. ''I would have liked bigger steps. We were behind a lot of teams at the beginning. But we got down to a reasonable level pretty quickly.'' At that level, however, the team was left hanging.

McLaren wants to be more competitive in 2023, but the biggest focus is on 2024. The new wind tunnel and other simulation tools could be used for that season's car. Like Seidl, Norris also argues that it has to happen that year. ''This will be our first year in which we have no more excuses.''

Norris still does not regret his decision to extend at McLaren. ''I'm super happy and comfortable. I enjoy it at McLaren. I like working with the guys. I believe in you. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have signed a long-term contract. My head looks ahead. My ideas are long term. We have to keep working. In 2024 and 2025 I will have my best chance with McLaren,'' the young driver concludes.