Lando Norris insists McLaren “have what it takes” to beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull to the Formula 1 title in 2024, but stressed it must “eliminate small mistakes”.
McLaren has maintained the momentum from last season to emerge as Red Bull’s most regular challenger since introducing updates in Miami that helped Norris win.
The MCL38 has proven to be more consistent than its rivals’ cars, but McLaren has been unable to capitalise to the maximum as it lost victories in Canada and Spain.
An incorrect strategic call cost McLaren in Montreal, while Norris rued slipping behind Verstappen in Barcelona at the start as he finished second in the “quickest car”.
Despite overtaking Charles Leclerc into second spot in the Drivers’ standings with his sixth podium this term, Norris lags a considerable 69 points behind Verstappen.
The Briton believes that a championship tilt is possible as soon as this campaign, but he has conceded that McLaren can’t allow that gap to extend in coming rounds.
Questioned on whether he thinks a title shot is a realistic proposition this season, Norris said: “I think so.
“I think we should have done better today. We should have got some points back on Max.
“Potentially, there was a chance to beat him in Canada. So two races that I finished second and he’s won. But Max needs to stop winning in order to achieve that.
“Yeah, even though I moved into second in the championship, that doesn’t matter. I couldn’t care if I was second or 10th.
“It’s more about the gap to what Max is and he’s still extending it and that’s something we can’t afford to do at this point of the season.
“But we can do. You know, if I just made some better decision in Canada and if I had a better start today, we could have won two races.
“And I know there’s a lot of, and there kind of always has been a lot of ‘shoulda, woulda, couldas’, but we have what it takes. It’s just about putting it all together.”
Norris reiterated his stance from earlier in the week that “small things” are now separating McLaren and Red Bull, placing the onus on his team to eradicate the errors.
Asked by Motorsport Week whether getting the incremental details right is as important as having a fast package, Norris replied: “Yes. I mean, Max is not making any mistakes.
“So I think as soon as you make one little mistake, they’re going to be ahead.
“I think, honestly, if you look at it yesterday, they probably had a slightly quicker car, in my opinion. Could be wrong. But in my opinion, I think they had a slightly quicker car.
“Today, we had the quicker car. But obviously, I still managed to finish second. So it’s about the smaller things at the minute.
“But every track is a bit different. Like we’ve seen Red Bull struggle a little bit more a few races ago.
“I think we’re still proving to be one of the most consistent teams at every track that we’ve been to.
“Mercedes were quick as last weekend in Canada, and now probably a little bit behind here. So it’s a little bit up and down.
“And I think we just need to stay doing what we’re doing, because it’s good enough for the time being. But it’s just trying to eliminate a couple of those small, little mistakes.”
Heading to the Red Bull Ring, the venue where Norris took his maiden F1 podium in 2021, he has admitted that McLaren can be optimistic it will again be competitive.
But the one-time grand prix winner has concurred with boss Andrea Stella that the Woking-based squad must unlock more speed in the high speed to match Red Bull.
“I’m confident,” he expressed. “Every weekend we go into now, the car’s performing extremely well.
“We’re always there or thereabouts within a couple of tenths of pole, and that’s all we can ask for.
“I think we need to bring something a little bit more just to make our life a bit easier.
“It’s close, and now we have, what, four teams who I think can easily fight for pole positions and fight for wins, potentially. So it’s a very different layout again.
“High speed, I think we have a bit to work on, comparing to Red Bull. Red Bull seem definitely a bit higher, better in high speed corners than we are.
“Potentially we’re lacking a touch in that area but the rest of it is strong.
“It’s been one of my best tracks in terms of my own competitiveness and my most successful tracks, so excited to see all the papaya and have a good weekend.”
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