Lando Norris has been buoyed by McLaren’s “big signing” from Red Bull coming in 2024.
This week it was announced that chief engineering officer Rob Marshall would move from Milton Keynes to Woking on January 1st, assuming the role of Chief Designer.
His appointment comes as McLaren has made a raft of changes to their technical department in recent months after a difficult start to the 2023 season.
And Norris believes Marshall’s arrival will provide a further boost as McLaren tries to close the gap to the front.
“He’s been at Red Bull for many, many years, he’s seen a lot of success with the team,” he said via Crash.net on Thursday in Spain.
“He’s been with some of the best minds within Formula 1, and he’s definitely part of that group. Brains and lap time are the two big things [he will bring].
“He’s a big person, a big signing for us as a team. So I think someone that a lot of people within McLaren will look up to and respect and so on.
“A good step for us as a team to keep this drive forward, continuing to add performance and expertise to the whole team in our drive to improve further up the grid.”
With McLaren continuing to underperform compared to the likes of Aston Martin and Alpine, Norris’ future at the team has been called into question.
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And the Briton, who was promoted to F1 in 2019, was asked how much belief he had in CEO Zak Brown and McLaren’s vision for the future.
“I would say a lot, even more now than in the past,” Norris maintained. “I guess I would never want to say that I have no belief, and I never have said it and probably won’t.
“But definitely since the last few changes, there have been a lot of good things coming from that, both in terms of mood, atmosphere, but at the same time also performance and things to look forward to in the future.
“So not everything is purely direct in Formula 1. A lot of things take time. So I guess you have that part of it too. But definitely, things have taken a step forward.
“I can easily confirm that and say it with confidence. But until we see it, that’s the timely part.”