Lando Norris admits he is teasing teammate Carlos Sainz as McLaren battle Ferrari ahead of the Spaniard’s 2021 move.
Back in May, the second-generation driver was announced as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement at the Scuderia much to the chagrin of the Woking-based team.
However, with Ferrari struggling in the first three races of this season and chairman John Elkann now ruling out victories before Formula 1’s 2022 rule changes, the ever-cheeky Briton can’t resist having a dig at Sainz’s decision.
“There have been jokes made, but nothing which is rubbing it in,” he told Reuters ahead of his home race at Silverstone this weekend.
“I know how karma works and how easily things can go the opposite way.
“I think we’re going to go to some races this season where Ferrari will beat us quite easily and Carlos will be the one saying ‘Look who’s laughing now’.
“I know that F1 can change and they will probably do a very good job to return back to their normal ways of being very competitive.”
Still, right now McLaren are ahead of their historic rivals in the Constructors’ standings and that has given the team an unexpected target to aim for.
“We have an opportunity to beat Ferrari. We have an opportunity to fight them throughout the season,” Norris said.
Also Read:
- Sainz still backs his decision to ‘take the chance’ at Ferrari next year
- Norris: No-one expected Vettel to leave Ferrari after 2020
- Ricciardo feels Renault close to top-five finish, ahead of Ferrari
“I think it would mean a lot to us as a team to take the next step and beat a team that’s been front-running for a few years, for many years, to show the progress we have made.
“It would give us a bit more of that drive to continue on and beat them into the future.”
And potentially helping McLaren in that quest is upcoming improvements to their 2020 car which have been delayed due to the impact of Covid-19.
“We still have our upgrade to come. Ferrari seems to be in a difficult position at the moment with what they are trying to do and achieve,” Lando continued.
“They had their big upgrades, or a lot of them, for Budapest so it is looking more hopeful than we were expecting because they are performing nowhere near what we are used to.”