Regardless of whether he is overtaken by the Ferrari drivers who shut him down, Lando Norris will take a lot of confidence from 2021 into what will hopefully be an even more significant year next season.
Norris was one of the stars of the current campaign, took four podiums, a first pole position and was close to a first victory in Russia. In the last few races, Ferrari has turned the screw and overtaken McLaren in the constructors’ championship and is leading the team with a 39.5 point lead before the opening weekend of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. But even if Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz overtake him in the drivers’ standings – where he is currently one point ahead of Leclerc and Sainz with 7.5 points – he is prepared for a great year 2022.
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“I’m definitely much more confident that if I suddenly struggled for victory in the first race next year, especially after being in the position in Russia where I would feel very safe,” said Norris said .
“Of course I would still be nervous and whatever, but I think I’ll be a lot more confident than if I hadn’t had the year that I had this year and had experienced some of the things I did this season. But I feel a lot safer knowing what to do when I’m in this position. So from that side, I think I’m ready for it.
“But I think you never know how much better you will do because a lot depends on the car and things like that. Sometimes you have to be lucky, sometimes you have bad luck. I’ve worked hard over the winter to make many of these improvements. What I was very happy about was to see that the improvements actually seem quite obvious, occur and show up immediately in the results.
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“I feel very confident, especially from the point of view of driver confidence and the driver mentality,” added Norris. “Whether that means we’re fine or not [next year], we just have to wait and see.
“From my instinct and what I’ve learned and what I’ve learned, I feel like I can go on through the winter and make some improvements and start next year, like I feel like I’ve finished which is still better than how I started this season. But the circumstances in the car next year will just be so different. Maybe you need other driving styles and the like, because it will be a completely different car. “
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That doesn’t mean Norris is writing off this season as he’s still keen to keep Leclerc and Sainz and the Bay – and he believes that despite Ferrari’s strong development, McLaren’s been in the fight for so long is proof of how good you performed as a team.
“When they brought their power unit upgrade, it certainly helped,” said Norris. “They were very energetic beforehand and therefore have a lot of commitment, which doesn’t make a big difference on some stretches and definitely helps on some stretches, because if we turn on the straight and lose 20 km / h, they just stop.” Go. It makes a huge difference in how you can drive them and overtake them and all.
“And of course they have a little more power. Performance is a nice thing, it just makes you faster, not a disadvantage. When they got that, they definitely took a small step forward. I think it was very close all season. I still think we did a better job as a team. I think there have been more races where they were faster but just made more mistakes than us so they should be further up the front.
“You have a little more power. Power is a beautiful thing ”
“But it’s tough,” added Norris. “If I look at it from the drivers’ standings point of view, it’s only close, but I’m still ahead of the two. Of course, I want the team to be on top, but I feel like I’ve done as much as I can to help on this side.
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“I would say it’s no surprise. Of course, some people say, ‘Oh, are you shocked that they were quick?’ But I don’t think there was a point this season where it was over 25 points or something between us – it was very, very barely all the way. They had a lot more pole positions, they had more chances of winning races, and so on, so it was never a surprise.
“You have a very good car, you have a much better engine now and if you do well as a team then you are very good. I think we were just more consistent in the way we did it as a team to maximize this – more than they did. And if they had played at the same level that we did as a team, then I think they would be up front to be honest. It’s just like that, they are a very good team, they are Ferrari, so I think we never expected anything contrary. “
