Lando Norris finally gets good McLaren news as warning fired to F1 rivals

27 April 2023 , 16:31

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Lando Norris' McLaren car is expected to get more competitive (Image: Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Lando Norris hopes his McLaren team will be back on track after a series of much-needed upgrades brought in for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

McLaren have endured a difficult start to the 2023 season. Before the campaign had even begun, at the car launch for the MCL60, chief executive Zak Brown admitted his team had missed key development targets, setting them back already.

On top of this, their luck in the first two races of the season was not encouraging. Oscar Piastri retired in Bahrain with an electrical fault while Norris was managing a pneumatic engine problem. And, in Saudi Arabia, both of them picked up damage on the first lap which scuppered their chances.

But, last time out, Norris and team-mate Piastri were able to capitalise on the chaos in Melbourne to pick up their first points of their season. McLaren are now fifth in the constructors' championship and, in a bid to push on, will debut their first upgrade package of the year this weekend.

Norris said he does not "want to get ahead of myself", but hopes the upgrades can make an impact. He said: "We do have the upgrade. I think that was made clear and obvious very early on in the season. But what we have now, it's what we should have started the year with.

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"I think what we have this weekend is just the baseline we should have started the year with and it's about understanding what we have now. It's a better baseline, it's more room for opportunities and more room for improvements with what we have."

Development of McLaren's MCL60 is behind schedule (Getty Images)

While positive for McLaren to have made progress, they are aware that they are still behind schedule. Norris understands that other teams are also planning to introduce upgrades this weekend, with Mercedes and Alpine among those making car improvements.

He added: "A lot of other teams also have upgrades, so our job is to try and bring slightly bigger things and try to play a little bit of catch-up. It's definitely going to make us take a small step forward, but to all the people who also bring upgrades, it's going to be smaller."

"I'm excited – the team did a very good job to bring these things through and to get them ready, but it's about maximising what we have now."

Anna Malyon