Feeling good, Lando Norris arrived in Japan for the Grand Prix on the Suzuka circuit. The Briton ended up eight-tenths short of keeping Carlos Sainz from victory in Singapore. Nevertheless, Norris was very pleased with his own and McLaren's performance. After all, the team had reintroduced a radical update to the MCL60 (only on Norris' car), so it did not miss its effect.
Suzuka is a completely different circuit from the Marina Bay Street Circuit. According to Norris, it remains to be seen to what extent the updates from Singapore will also work in Japan: "Yes. Tough to say. I want to believe so. I think everything did what it was meant to do and I think we definitely took some steps forward. I don't think that we're confident in saying we're as quick as Red Bull. I think Red Bull will probably be dominant this weekend. But I think comparing us to Ferrari and Mercedes, Mercedes has been just a lot more consistent than what we have."
'Mercedes is more consistent than McLaren'
Mercedes is probably second in the championship, as the team structurally finishes on the podium or just next to it. "We've still fluctuated quite a bit. On a good weekend we can be very, very good and maybe a little bit ahead like we've seen in Silverstone and things like that. But on the whole, Mercedes has probably been the second-best car this season, then Ferrari and then us so far. So we're getting there but it's still a very different circuit to Singapore with these upgrades. So there's still things for us to find out and analyse from Suzuka," Norris believes.
Still, Norris is sure of one thing, he reiterates when asked: Red Bull will strike back in Japan after a mediocre weekend in Singapore. "Pretty much a guarantee," the McLaren driver says firmly.