The orange team currently sits third in the 2024 constructors’ standings – 55 points better off and two places higher than at the same stage a year ago – and heads the Mercedes and Aston Martin teams in the tight battle behind the dominant Red Bull squad and Ferrari.
While that is a major year-on-year improvement, Ferrari has established itself as Red Bull’s closest challenger so far this season, a position McLaren largely enjoyed during the 2023 season run-in.
Ferrari’s off-season development work even helped it overhaul McLaren’s late-2023 advantages on high-speed tracks such as Suzuka, where two weeks ago the Scuderia recovered from its drivers qualifying behind Norris to beating him to the final podium spot adrift of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
After Suzuka, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told the F1 Nation podcast that he still reckons his squad can “think about winning races this year” if it can replicate its impressive 2023 in-season development.
When asked about Stella’s comments in the pre-event press conference at this weekend’s returning Chinese Grand Prix, Norris initially quipped that he feels such an improvement for McLaren to claim 2024 wins is not possible in the short-term.
“Not any time soon – that’s for sure!” he joked.
Source: Autosport