Lando Norris feels ready to fight for the World Cup. After five years in Formula 1, the British driver has not yet had the opportunity to fight for the top positions in the table. In fact, still unreleased as a winner, after in 2021 he was close to victory at the Italian and Russian Grands Prix.
The one from Bristol believes that this 2023 has reached the point of maturity that would allow him to fight to be world champion, and despite the fact that McLaren still he has not given him a competitive car, he is confident that the Woking team is the best option to reach the top of Formula 1.
“McLaren is the place where I feel that I can perform at my best version. I am confident that if I were now in a position to measure myself against Max and Lewis, he would be able to fight them and be a title contender. I believe it even more for 2024 and even more for 2025″, Norris has declared in an interview with ‘The Race’.
The British driver believes that after five years of apprenticeship, he is a driver with enough experience to fight with the big stars of Formula 1: “I don’t want to say that I am the first in that position, but I want to have confidence, which is something I who had suffered in the past. If you see Max Verstappen where he was a few years ago, he was a pilot who made many mistakes. He had many accidents. Everyone said that he was going beyond the limit and look at him now, he is very complete and professional.”
Although he is confident in McLaren for the future, Norris has made it clear that the start of the 2023 season for the papaya team it has been disappointing.
“If I’m honest, the 2023 performance is below expectations and we all knew it, so there have been some changes. The level up to 2021 was very good and the progression up to last year pretty solid. For this season we expected something more we’re behind where we wanted to be for different reasons,” Norris said.
In February 2022, McLaren renewed Lando Norris through the 2025 season, confirming that it is the bet of the team in the long term. However, both Mercedes and Red Bull have been interested in his contractual situation to consider him as a future option if there are any free seats, since there is a rumor that there is a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave McLaren if they do not have a competitive car.
