Norris sees McLaren growing: 'We've had a good season'

Lando Norris hoped prior to the season to compete for the world title, but with McLaren he did not progress beyond seventh in the standings this calendar year. Despite this, the talented driver sees enough elements to progress with his team.

Among the constructors, McLaren fell 14 points short of overtaking Alpine, but in the drivers' championship, Norris personally managed to do so. Indeed, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso both failed to exceed 100 points, while the Briton scored 122.

"You're happier to be ahead of people, and to have a good result," Norris stated when asked by GPblog. "Everyone is smiling now because we've had a good season, everyone at the track has done a very good job. The mechanics, engineers. We've pretty much maximised every opportunity we've had."

Norris sees eager team

While McLaren was able to contend with Alpine this year, it proved impossible for the formation to make things difficult for Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes. Next season, it hopes to make a move and Norris is very confident of that.

"Everyone will continue to work on those things. Everyone wants to. All the mechanics and engineers are more fired up than ever, have more energy than ever to go quicker and make a better car. It's not an easy thing to do but they have a good plan in place."

Dutch Editor-in-chief Tim Kraaij reported from Abu Dhabi for this article