Australian Grand Prix might be ‘good as it gets for a while’ for McLaren admits Lando Norris
Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo have struggled this season
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Your support makes all the difference.Lando Norris says McLaren’s finish at the Australian Grand Prix could be as “good as it gets” for the Formula 1 team for a while.
Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo bagged points in Melbourne last Sunday, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. It was the best weekend McLaren have had so far this season with Ricciardo picking up his first points of the campaign and Norris grabbing his highest finish. The British driver ended in seventh in Saudi Arabia and 15th in Bahrain.
But Norris has curtailed McLaren fan hopes of the Australian race being a springboard and says the reality is the team won’t achieve much more in the near future.
“The car has been good from the FP1 and throughout the whole weekend, which is a good thing. It shows that there are still those strengths in the car,” Norris told Autosport.
“We just need to keep working on the weaknesses, to be honest, if we want to be here more often because not all tracks are as smooth and as quick as this.
“So, I think this might be as good as it gets for a while and we’re going to a couple of tracks which might be a bit tougher for us. But the team is motivated. I guess a day like today really helps them out and keeps them happy, so a good result for the team.”
And while Norris is being realistic about the team’s hopes for the rest of the campaign, Ricciardo is delighted that McLaren could come away with a great result in his home grand prix, considering the disastrous start to the season.
He told Sky: “Of course a fifth and a sixth is a massive result for us so far this year. If you would’ve said this in Bahrain I probably would’ve laughed sarcastically, so very happy with this progress.”
The next oppportunity for Norris, who signed a long-term deal with McLaren earlier in 2022, and Ricciardo to score more points will be at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on 24 April.
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