Lando Norris admits he is having to play a “patience game” for his chance to have a race-winning car in Formula 1.
The Briton is coming to the end of his fourth season on the grid with McLaren and only has one pole and six podiums to his name in that time.
In that time, others like Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have all had opportunities at top teams, while Norris has remained committed to the Woking-based outfit.
But the 22-year-old says he has to keep the faith that his chance to compete at the front regularly in F1 will come.
“You have to [bide your time], you can’t do too much else,” he told Sky Sports. “I can’t really complain. I still have an opportunity in Formula 1.
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“But I still feel like when I’ve finished P6, P7 sometimes, I’ve driven the best race of my life or I’ve done the best lap in qualifying and I’m P8 or P9. You have to realise that was your goal and your objective for the day.
“You know you might not win a race for many years and your opportunity may come in 12 years or something like that.
“It’s frustrating at times because you feel like you deserve more at certain periods, no matter how much hard work you put in.
“You have a guy that can have the easiest race and chill the whole race and win a race, and then there’s you sweating, having the hardest race of your life and P8.
“It’s never hard feelings against anyone else because they are probably deserving to be in that position and you just have to have faith that in a few years, or a few races, you’ll have your opportunity.”
PLAYER 1:
READY pic.twitter.com/PzZP0YYDms— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) October 2, 2022
McLaren was hoping the new rules for this season would help them close the gap to the front, but instead, they have remained in the same place, fighting Alpine for ‘best of the rest’.
Norris though remains confident the team can become regular contenders for victories in the coming years.
“I would say between 2022 and 2023 I’m not expecting realistically a win or a couple of wins,” he said via MotorsportWeek.
“For me, my confidence is in 2024 and 2025, and until then I need to play a little bit of the patience game.
“There’s still times where you could achieve a win, even with Daniel [Ricciardo] last year achieving a win, and me having pole in Russia, almost winning Russia – those things can come along the way.
“Even when [Esteban] Ocon wins and [Pierre] Gasly wins, those moments can come, but until I am genuinely being in a position where I can say ‘There’s no more excuses, we want to win genuinely rather than with a bit of luck because certain things happen’, that time is in 2024 and 2025.”
