Lando Norris finishing third in the Drivers’ Championship is “not unrealistic” but would require luck, McLaren admit.
The young Brit has undoubtedly been one of Formula 1’s best drivers this season, scoring points at every race until he was taken out by Valtteri Bottas at the start in Hungary.
With the Finn also eliminating himself and Sergio Perez in the Turn 1 demolition derby, it meant Norris, who has three podiums to his name in 2021, remained in P3 over the summer break.
“Down to the strong performance by Lando, together with the team and the competitive car we have this year, we’ve managed after 11 races to be in P3, so it’s not unrealistic to stay there,” said McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl via Formula1.com.
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“Whether it is a genuine target [to stay P3] is difficult to say because the Red Bull and Mercedes is clearly a better car and Valtteri and Checo have shown some great races this year, and also from the past, what they can do.
“Plus, we have to be honest as well, [we need] one time or another for something to go wrong for Red Bull or Mercedes because we’re not in a position purely on performance to beat them.
“Let’s see what we can do in the second half of the season.”
As for Norris himself, he is not getting too carried away about the possibility, noting how one or two races could change everything.
“At any point, it might not be quite as good,” he said of his results. “A lot of people build us up, saying we’re doing so well at the moment blah blah blah.
“It’s a cruel world, and if something happens or goes wrong, we can very easily be put in the ground, and people will say ‘you’re not concentrating’ and just come up with all these excuses like they sometimes do.
“As I said, it’s managing expectations, keeping the team’s head right, not going ahead of ourselves when we are getting too over-confident and just keeping a level head and keep working for ourselves and on ourselves.”
Despite that, given Norris has more often than not been the fastest midfield driver this year, he isn’t ruling out the possibility of scoring McLaren’s first win since 2012.
“It’s not too crazy,” he was quoted by GPFans. “Let’s say it’s our best season in a long time to maybe achieve something like that.
“With the team, I’m positive when I need to be, and negative when I need to be. All of that’s only for the benefit of the team, putting our heads right and keeping us working hard.”