There McLaren he is currently the third force on the track, and its top driver, Landau Norris, is trying to get the most out of every situation. Probably a Woking they expected to be constantly closer to the Red Bullbut the RB20 has proven to be an unrivaled force at the moment. Then, there is also the question Ferrarinet of everything stronger than the British, even if in China things went decidedly badly for the team of Maranellorightly behind in terms of performance of the MCL38 papaya color.
The couple of pilots of the McLaren is highly respectable, and alongside Landau Norris already since last year we have found a talented guy Oscar Platesbut who is currently struggling quite a bit to keep up with his more experienced, albeit still very young, English teammate, who has already achieved two podiums this season, but with some extra care, see Jeddah or Suzukahe could have at least been fighting for the top three on other occasions too.
The case of Norris it is certainly one of the most talked about at the moment in the paddock F1: the 24 year old from Glastonbury has already conquered 15 podiums since he has been racing in the top open-wheel championship of motorsportsi.e. from the beginning of 2019, and the first important placing came in 2020 Spielbergin Austriain the first post race COVID-19. From that moment on the growth of the team has been considerable, obviously thanks to the work of Andreas Seidlnow the project’s point man Audi, and in the last times of Andrew Star.
McLaren, wide margins for growth
The management of McLaren chose the engineer of Orvietoex Ferrari but in Woking since 2015, when he chose to follow Alonso in the project, which later failed, started with the Honda. This is his second year as team principal, and under the supervision of the CEO Zak Brownwho however manages to stay in his place, Star he managed to carry forward the team’s growth project, with the results that we can all see now.
There was clearly a period of confusion between 2022 and the beginning of 2023, when the cars presented with the new technical regulations were anything but competitive, but the updates brought, look, always to Spielberg last year they completely overturned the single-seater, now a natural evolution of what actually started with that concept in the midst of the beautiful Austrian mountains that surround the Red Bull Ring and all the Styria.
In 2023, seven podiums arrived with Landau Norrisadded to the two of Oscar Plates. The Englishman excelled over his teammate, as would be logical when a young player approaches for the first time in such a selective championship as the F1. The Briton, however, insistently seeks his first victory in the Circussomething that objectively seems to be very complicated given the eras in which he has ventured, first the end of the hegemony Mercedesnow in the midst of the era he sees Verstappen grab everything.
Norris: total trust in McLaren
There McLarenas mentioned, has proven to be second strength in Chinadespite the MCL38 it is still effectively the “base” car that began the season, apart from some small physiological changes to adapt the single-seater to the track. Norris at the end of weekend Yes is sorry for not having achieved more especially in the Sprint Race of the day before, when starting from pole position he made a mistake at the first corner, favoring the overtaking of the evergreen Lewis Hamilton.
The union within the team it’s obvious: Andrew Star he rejected these apologies of his pilot, because he believes that they are not necessary and praises the type of person, rather than professional, with whom he is dealing. Indeed, the former race engineer of Fernando Alonso he reiterated that it is even the Woking team who have to apologize to Norrisdeclaring after the China of having to give him a better car and one that can help him achieve the desired results.
The first truly major update package of the year is coming to Miamibut by his own admission Norris after Chinese GPwe shouldn’t see the fruits of these updates in the Florida round due to the layout of the track, but also because there will be the format with the Sprint Raceand this does not facilitate those teams who want to apply improvements, presumed or otherwise, to their respective cars.
Landau has linked his future to the English team, certainly driven by the notable improvements of the past season, but given the large market movements that seem to be underway, and which could also involve the Red Bullwell, that would be fair of the team Woking repay this trust in its driver by giving him a single-seater that can be able to fight stably, at least, with the Ferrari in this season.
Author: Andrea Bovone
Images: McLaren Media Centre –
