Lando Norris admits that he wasn’t entirely in the “right space” early in the 2023 Formula 1 season as he struggled to come to grips with the reality of McLaren’s initial struggles.
McLaren opened the campaign already braced to begin on the backfoot after openly conceding it had switched development focus with its MCL60 car late in the winter.
The Woking-based squad consequently endured its worst start to an F1 season since 2000 as Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri failed to score across the first two races.
However, the addition of a sizeable upgrade package from July’s Austrian Grand Prix transformed McLaren’s fortunes and saw Norris collect a career-best seven podiums as the team rose to fourth in the standings.
Although he is still awaiting an elusive maiden victory, Norris was pleased with the way he maximised McLaren’s renewed pace to produce his finest season in F1 to date.
“I think any time we’ve been close at getting a victory or I think the last six or seven races I had six P2s and all of them behind Max [Verstappen], no other drivers,” he reflected.
“So anytime out of those times something might have gone wrong we were in a perfect position.
“I think Brazil was one of my best races. I mean I look at it, it’s not a lot going on but in terms of gap to everyone else [26s ahead of third] with just one car ahead, I think it was a pretty good race. Mexico [17th to fifth] very good race.
“I think I’ve definitely been at my best in terms [of] performance, maybe not the beginning of the year.
“I worked quite a bit on trying to still adapt to this car because it’s not an easy car. And there’s still things every weekend that I struggle with, but I spent the first part of the season maybe not in the right space.”
Despite McLaren’s remarkable mid-season turnaround, Norris reiterates that he had to drift from his natural driving style to extract headline results from the updated MCL60.
“Still, how I want to drive quickly is the opposite of how this car wants to be driven,” the Briton continued.
“And still my natural thing of going out and driving qualifying as best as I would want is not how our car needs to be driven. So I still have to change a little bit how I have to drive the car.
“And that’s still been happening this year but since I would say the half-way point of the season I felt more confident. I feel like I’ve been getting the most out of the car especially from a racing perspective.”
Norris is convinced that McLaren can deliver the more compliant car he is searching for, though, having now proven that it is capable of making the progress needed to become a credible contender at the sharp end again.
“I’ve just made a few too many mistakes in qualifying which I think is a bit obvious and I’ve acknowledged,” the 24-year-old noted.
“But I definitely think that I’ve had some of the best races I’ve ever done, so that helps when you have a good car on top to go with you.
“As I’ve said many times before, I believe that McLaren can turn things around.
“This was the year that we needed and the team needed to prove those things which has been perfect.”
