Lando Norris out to prove he can race 'against Lewis and Max'

Although Lando Norris previously admitted he fears who McLaren would be racing this season, the Briton is hoping McLaren get it right and he finds himself up against Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Last season Norris had a brief taste of what it would be like to race for wins, the McLaren driver second to his team-mate at the Italian Grand Prix while in Russia the weather gods destroyed his chances.

Those, however, were his only two real opportunities at the very sharp end of the field.

While Hamilton and Verstappen raced for the World title, the two in a fight of their own, Norris was up against the Ferrari drivers as McLaren took on the Scuderia for third in the Championship.

This year Norris is hoping he will be involved in more battles at the front, the Briton determined to show the world that he has the ability to compete against the likes of Hamilton and reigning World Champion Verstappen.

“Hopefully we are in a slightly quicker car this year,” he told The Guardian.

“Now it is just about me trying to show everyone the best driver I can be, and that I am good enough to go up against Lewis and Max.”

First team selfie of the year? DONE!

Thanks, @Android. ? pic.twitter.com/n1XZvInV1z

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 17, 2022

While the 2022 season marks Norris’ fourth season on the grid, for his compatriot Hamilton it is season number 16.

With the Mercedes driver saying every year that there is more to come from him, more to learn, Norris says if that’s true of Hamilton, he himself has even more room to grow.

“Every year you learn something new and, like Lewis said, he has come back better than ever,” he said, “but there is more room for improvement for me than there is for him…

“So the best is still yet to come, to be the complete driver is the aim but I know it’s not an easy thing to do.”

The 22-year-old touched on his Russian Grand Prix loss, Norris leading the race when with five laps to go the rain bucketed down.

He tried to stay out on slick tyres but it proved a near disaster with Hamilton, who had stopped for wet tyres, storming through as the McLaren driver slipped and slid his way around the circuit.

Norris eventually pitted, finishing the grand prix in a disappointing seventh place.

“A certain element of it I want to block off because it just doesn’t make me feel happy, it’s not like I can think about it and go: ‘Ahh, that was a good time,’” he says.

 

“It’s good that I learned things but it was just one race. It was not going to win me the championship or the team the championship.

“I have learned from it in that when I have a chance to go for a championship and it means even more, then I am ready for it.”

 

 

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