Lando Norris had an amazing race at Zandvoort, showing off his skills and McLaren’s improvements.
After securing pole position, the fastest lap, and a win, Norris shared that McLaren’s updates made a big difference in their performance.
Norris Praises McLaren for the Great Car:
Norris was thrilled with both his and McLaren’s achievements. “A win is always satisfying, so very good. Obviously didn’t start in the most optimistic way but the pace was unbelievable from the beginning and I could go with Max quite happily at the start,” he said.
At the start of the race, Verstappen quickly passed Norris, but unlike other races in 2023, Verstappen couldn’t pull away from everyone else. Eventually, Norris caught up and left Verstappen 22 seconds behind. “I just didn’t expect our pace to be probably as good as what it was today which is a good thing,” Norris explained. “It’s nice to be a little bit surprised by this and as soon as I got ahead it was quite straightforward. I could push, I had good confidence to push the whole race, save the tyres a little bit but just get in a good rhythm and go from there. The car felt amazing, felt great and made my life easier for sure so a big thanks to the team,” he added.
Upgrades or Not, Norris Feels Confident:
For the first time since Miami, McLaren introduced new updates to their car. Norris believes they have one of the best cars now and could have won even without these upgrades. “I mean this weekend a little bit, I still feel like we probably would have won without the upgrades this weekend,” he mentioned. “The upgrades didn’t make us certainly a lot quicker here, but the upgrades we’ve been putting on the car have helped us every time.”
He also pointed out that their new rear wing made overtaking Verstappen easier. “This was the first time we really put something on the car to drive us a step forward and it definitely did that,” he said. He noted that while they’ve been competitive recently in places like Budapest, Barcelona, and Silverstone, small improvements can make a big difference. Fans might think it’s exciting to see such close competition!
Norris concluded by saying that these small changes helped him pass Verstappen more easily and move forward in the race. He hopes to keep cutting into Verstappen’s championship lead at Monza next weekend.
What do you think? Can Norris keep up this momentum?
