Lando Norris believes that catching Ferrari represents a “doable” target for McLaren across the remainder of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
McLaren followed up its first double podium finish since March 2014 in Japan by bringing both cars home inside the top three once again at last Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
After accumulating just 17 points in the opening eight rounds of the season, McLaren have only been outscored by Red Bull since unveiling its revised car in Austria in July.
In the Constructors’ Championship, the Woking squad is now situated 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Martin, who held a 137-point advantage at one stage.
Amid McLaren consistently accruing big points hauls recently, Norris was asked on Sunday in Qatar whether catching Ferrari for third represented a realistic proposition.
When told the margin between the two ex-title rivals stood at 79 points with five rounds remaining, Norris said: “It’s doable. I think so.
“A couple of races ago it was, 70-something to Aston. I mean, Fernando [Alonso] said we were overconfident as well!”
Norris outlines that McLaren’s remarkable mid-season improvement is down to the team making progress in every area, evidenced by its world record 1.8s pit stop.
“I think we’re just doing a good job, not just in terms of pace but today we had a 1.8-second pit stop which is pretty impressive from the guys,” Norris highlighted.
“They’ve been working extremely hard so to reward the whole team consistently is only more motivating and a bigger boost every weekend.
“They like the taste of success. It’s the first time they’re getting it consistently and I think that only makes them want it more and more and more every weekend that we’re doing so the guys are doing a great job. I think we’re both [the drivers] doing a decent job too, so we’ll keep it up.”
However, Norris is wary that the past two venues on the calendar have presented high-speed circuit configurations that have suited the strengths of McLaren’s MCL60 car.
The Briton asserts that Mercedes was as quick as McLaren at the Lusail circuit, but a first-lap collision between its drivers hampered the German marque’s chances.
Meanwhile, Norris has also tipped Ferrari to return to form again, with the Maranello camp converting pole position into the only non-Red Bull victory of the year in Singapore.
“We know that Mercedes are very quick, probably as almost as quick as us today, just they keep making mistakes,” Norris continued. “So I’m sure if they have a clean weekend they will maybe make our life a bit more tricky and therefore I’m not as confident in saying it.
“But like I was comparing to Ferrari, it was only three weekends ago that Ferrari were close to… were on pole and almost winning races and nothing has really changed, it’s just a different track. We’re looking better, they’re looking a bit worse.
“I think we’re definitely not overconfident. We’re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there’s still going to be some races where we’re not going to be quite as strong.”
Piastri, who clinched his maiden F1 win in Saturday’s Sprint, has agreed with his team-mate, accepting that there will be tracks left that don’t prove as fruitful for McLaren.
“Yeah, I think Suzuka and here have probably been tracks we’ve been looking at for quite a while in terms of what’s going to favour us,” the Australian assessed.
“I think there’s going to be some races that are going to be more difficult than here and probably will suit other teams a bit better. I think 79 points in what, five races and a couple of Sprints? It’s a big challenge but yeah, we’ll give it a go.
“I think obviously the gap to Aston now is very achievable. But yeah, hopefully we can do it.”
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