Norris Highlights F1 Team That Made 'Biggest Step' From Last Year

Sunday, 31 March 2024 at 12:00

Lando Norris highlighted the team that made the most considerable development progress ever since the end of the 2024 season.

McLaren went into 2024 with hopes of being at least the second-fastest team on the grid. The principal of the papaya team, Andrea Stella, suggested that being second at the start of 2024 would be terrific.

While the British team started the season in a much better place than last year, Lando Norris admitted he hoped for better progress over the winter break.

On the one hand, the 24-year-old suggested that the gap to Red Bull is precisely as big as his team expected ahead of the season's start. As quoted by motorsport.com, he said:

"The gap to Red Bull is completely expected. If you look at when they stopped developing last year, they put a lot of time and effort into trying to develop a good car for this year. So for us to be still as close as we are to them, I think it's a good sign."

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On the other hand, McLaren has been jumped by Ferrari, which is now clearly the second-fastest team. Scuderia even rivaled Red Bull during the most recent race, where they achieved a one-two result.

"You would probably say the most impressive has been Ferrari, in how they've been able to take a very big step, I would say, probably one of the biggest steps from last year to this year. But for us to still be not far behind I think it's a completely good sign for us."

The Papaya team seems fairly confident their car can be further developed with major upgrades they expect to bring around the Miami or Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Norris again admitted he hoped for a bit more after seeing the development pace that his team showed last season, but he they are working on tackling crucial areas to add performance:

"Of course, we always hope for that little bit more, and we hoped to just come out and be able to fight straight away at the front, but we took a step and we weren't able to maybe tackle a few of things that we really have struggled to tackle in the last few years. But now more than ever we're trying to tackle those areas."