A retirement and a last place are bitter pills to digest for McLaren, which in Saudi Arabia hopes to be able to leave behind the reliability problems seen in Bahrain. Problems which according to Lando Norris would be a sour note, an exception that would not indicate the real state of health of the Woking team.
Enough with the controversy
Lando Norris is one of the youngest riders on the grid, but also one of those whose future is worrying, and not a little. His relationship with McLaren, which began in 2019 and which is expected to end in 2025, has not yet brought the desired results. The team fought for fourth place in the constructors' championship last year but this year the start was much more disappointing. So one wonders if we will ever see Norris racing in a competitive car or if his career will suffer the consequences of this love-hate relationship. His attachment to the team is commendable and it is clear that before leaving the shack, Norris wants to try his best. The 2023 season has presented a double zero for the English team for now, but Norris believes in a comeback.
"Our aim for this weekend is to make up for the points we lost in Bahrain - he said Lando during the press conference in Jeddah. "I think reaching Q3 is impossible, but we know how this track is different from Sakhir and can give us an advantage in some respects."
We need to work harder
During the press conference Norris also wanted to explain the nature of the problems and invite everyone to stop controversy that have invested the team in recent weeks.
“The problem Oscar had was almost unprecedented, we are confident we have solved it, the same goes for what happened on my car. We spoke to Mercedes and she's sure she's sorted it out. We were faced with some rather rare failures, we believe we have solved them. Talking about a crisis is exaggerated. We are confident that we can get back into the points this weekend. It will be a tough battle with Alfa Romeo and several other teams. Compared to other teams we are behind but we can fight despite being in more distant positions. Compared to the level we would like, we are further away but we have a very clear programme. Ferrari – with its leap in quality from 2021 to 2022 is a clear example of what we would like to do. We have to try to do it, we have the right people but we have to work better at what we're doing so far."
