Lando Norris, McLaren Formula 1 driver, believes that his team is still “a very long way behind Red Bull and a long way behind Ferrari”. He expressed his opinion following his experience in pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Red Bull dominated the last season and it impressed the audience with its new design for RB20. The team ran the car consistently for long at Sakhir.
Additionally, Ferrari launched its SF-24 on track with improved performance. The SF-24 seemed more balanced and stable than its previous car especially in pace. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also managed to deliver top lap times.
Despite the team making solid progress compared to the last season, Norris believes it lacks the capacity to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari. This year the team is starting at the front because of its progress over the year.
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“Do I think we’ve taken a step forward? Absolutely,” Norris said on Friday. “Do I think we’ve made a lot of things better? Yes.
“But you just never really know at the end of the day where we stand compared to the others. I think we’re in a good position. We had a decent car at the end of last season.
“I think we’ve definitely taken some steps in the right direction. But I think it’s still a very long way behind Red Bull and a long way behind Ferrari. So, plenty of work for us to still try and achieve. But also plenty of things that we’ve learned over the last few days for us to implement before next week.”
McLaren’s MCL38 completed 145 laps over the three days testing, which is lesser than its peers. Minor teething issues restricted Norris to utilize complete testing time.
Norris said: “Yes, just a few setbacks here and there over the last few days. Not the end of the world, definitely, but you always want a perfect day.
“We didn’t get any long-running high-fuel stuff [Thursday] night, and we moved into [Friday] morning, and we still didn’t get it.
“So, not exactly what I wanted, but still plenty of things learned and a lot of stuff that I wanted to get done.
“I was happy for the most part, but [there are] a couple little things that I wish I could have done more.”
