With more responsibility comes greater confidence for Lando Norris at McLaren, he says.
The British youngster has enjoyed a strong start to the 2021 season, finishing third at Imola and sitting fourth in the Drivers’ Championship after four races.
Norris has also largely outperformed his illustrious teammate Daniel Ricciardo since the Australian’s arrival from Renault, and now as McLaren’s senior driver, Lando is welcoming the increased input he has in directing McLaren.
“I have a bigger role, more responsibility with some things such as the development, the knowledge of the team over the past three, four years, which is something Daniel can’t add,” he said via MotorsportWeek.
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“It’s something I’ve had to step up into which I think has been good for me, taking upon that role of responsibility within the team because it’s improved the effort.
“I was always putting in the effort but the time spent, the dedication spent with the team to understand a lot more things, going into the details, working a lot more with the team back at base at the MTC and so on.
“It’s hard to say the exact things but more my responsibility within the team has gone up and my confidence as well.
“Just being at the race track, within the car, knowing what I want to achieve every step of the way basically – on and off the track. Those are the main things.”
Norris had finished in the top five in the first three races before slipping back to eighth at the last race in Spain.
But that hasn’t derailed his momentum as Lando admits he likely won’t be near the front at every race.
“It’s been, definitely, the best season I’ve had so far, the best continuation of races that I’ve had so far in Formula 1,” Norris explained.
“I would love to keep it up, but a good race doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of points and great position.
“A good race could be if we finished eighth or ninth, it could be that we’ve achieved everything that we can. We’ll wait and see; it’s very close between a lot of the pack, especially towards the middle, and it can definitely swing one way or another.
“I want to continue what we’re doing. Being behind Mercedes and Red Bull is still the target and where we believe we can be. I’m not getting my hopes up too much for every race.
“We’ll try and keep doing what we’re doing but it’s not easy and it won’t be a surprise if we’re a little bit further back every now and then.”