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Norris has more faith than ever in McLaren after reorganisation

Norris has more faith than ever in McLaren after reorganisation

22-04-2023 09:41 Last update: 13:05
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GPblog.com

Lando Norris may be 'stuck' at McLaren for the next few years, but the young Briton has all but lost faith in the team. In fact, the appointment of Andrea Stella as team boss has given him more confidence than ever before, Norris says.

Following the sudden departure of Andreas Seidl to Sauber - a move McLaren had known about for some time, according to CEO Zak Brown - Stella was appointed team boss of the Woking-based racing stable in early 2023. However, the team has by no means had a strong start to the season and openly admitted that it had taken the wrong direction in developing the MCL60 over the winter.

Despite the turmoil behind the scenes, Norris is confident that his team will find its way back. He attributes this confidence in part to the team's leadership. "I think a lot of it for me is personnel," he replied when asked what gives him the most confidence, according to Motorsportweek.com.

Norris confident in leadership McLaren

At the same time, Norris does not think he is the best person to point out which people are responsible for successful results. "I don’t know who is amazing, and who isn’t. I guess I have the understanding, like, everyone knows who Adrian Newey is. Everyone knows of people who have done things for many years in the past and created history," he continued.

"I gain faith from the people that I work with," Norris continued. That includes his old team boss Seidl, but also the men currently at the helm at McLaren, including Stella. "Andrea gives me a lot of faith, probably the most I’ve seen in my time here in F1. So that’s a good thing," Norris said.

Following disappointing results in the first two Formula 1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, McLaren announced a major internal restructuring. Part of this included the departure of technical director James Key. He was replaced by David Sanchez, the former head of aerodynamics at Ferrari.