Lando Norris has said he is finally confident handling his McLaren car after a dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix that moved him to the top of the world championship standings with four races remaining.
The British driver won at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with a superb drive from pole to flag. With his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri finishing only fifth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, the Briton now leads Piastri by one point and Verstappen by 36. Piastri had held the title lead since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but Norris has moved to the front as the championship enters its final run-in.
He has struggled for much of the season, particularly in qualifying, not enjoying the feel of the grip from the front axle as much as he would like while Piastri enjoyed a strong run of results. Norris has since made a concerted effort to adapt to it and has demonstrated very good form in recent races just as the Australian’s performances have dipped.
“Certainly when the car was winning and Oscar was winning, the last thing I could do is use the excuse that my car is not good enough,” said Norris. “I wasn’t getting to grips and wasn’t finding a way to make it work, and I’m finding a better way to make it work now.
“It’s as simple as that. Of course, it gives you good confidence.”
McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, noted that Norris excels in the low-grip conditions as was the case in Mexico and made the most if it, having been all but untouchable and felt the team as a whole had emerged well from the weekend especially after the recent resurgence in form of Verstappen and Red Bull.
“It will just strengthen Lando’s confidence and it will be important for the final four races,” Stella said. “Both Lando and Oscar go into the final four races with reasons to be confident. The team also goes into the final four races with more understanding of how to extract performance from the car consistently.”
He also felt both drivers and McLaren had every reason to expect to be competitive at the remaining meetings in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
“The confidence in terms of the championship has increased. It’s increased because we have proven that we have a car that can win races and, in some conditions, can dominate races,” he said. “In the final four races, there’s no reason to think that one may favour one driver or the other. Vegas, if anything, has proven to be a challenge for McLaren overall. Last year, we were not competitive.
“For Lando and Oscar, there’s no problem in terms of track layout coming in the next four races. If anything, we need to make sure that from a McLaren point of view, we are in condition to extract the full performance that is available in the car.”
