McLaren's Lando Norris drove his 100th race last weekend in Austin and now reaches 100 races without an official win. So what does both himself and McLaren need to do?
The Formula One season is close to an end and McLaren are still hoping that their 23-year-old Brit, could achieve his first win in the sport. Following his debut in 2019 at the Australian Grand Prix Norris has competed in 100 races for the papaya team and collected 12 podiums along the way; his first being back in Austria 2020 alongside Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc.
Since then, the young sensation has become the first McLaren driver since Jenson Button to record four consecutive podiums with second place after the United States Grand Prix last weekend. He is now on the road to having the most podiums without a win which will leave his team wondering what they need to do in order to lift that first place trophy.
McLaren started the season on a low with both drivers finishing mostly every race at the bottom of the grid and leaving them stuck at the end of the drivers championship table with no points. Fast-forward to the end of the season and McLaren seem stronger and their development in the car has been somewhat impressive. From finishing in the bottom five to finishing a 2-3 in Qatar with Aussie teammate Oscar Piastri, McLaren fans will be hoping for a championship battling car for the seasons to come.
When asked whether he can win a race this season Norris said:"Unlikely. Not the answer I want to tell myself or anyone but it's unlikely. Qatar was our best opportunity. I guess that's why I was so tough on myself back then because I knew it was kind of our only opportunity.
"We have good tracks and bad tracks, it's just we have our very, very strong tracks. We still have some good ones I think but not ones where we think we can compete with the others.
"Some fun ones. Vegas is still a big question mark but there are no high-speed circuits which is where we are very strong. It's where we have always been strong and we are almost on par with Red Bull in the high-speed corners, it's just the slow speed is letting us down at the minute.
"We understand it and know it's our area to focus on and improve on. When it comes together, probably not this year but next year, I think we can do some good things." (Sky Sports)
Norris currently sits sixth in the drivers' championship only 24 points behind two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and with four races left of the season both Norris and the team behind McLaren, are hoping pace and a positive race start will be enough to move him up the ranks and potentially earn him a first Grand Prix win for his Formula One career.
Harley Parker
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Lots of insite for a non F1 enthusiast , enjoyed reading this very much , with plenty of facts and figures I did not know. Hope to see more articles from Harley parker in near future.