Norris surprised by his McLaren: 'I did not expect that'

If there is an award for the most successful turnaround of the season, McLaren would probably walk away with the top prize. The English team started the season in truly dramatic fashion and immediately knew: 'We need a drastic change of course, and right away'. All the radical updates certainly had their effect. McLaren even managed to regularly emerge as the main challenger to Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team.

Although McLaren did not manage to win a Grand Prix last season (although it did win the sprint race in Qatar, ed), Lando Norris still considers the season more than successful, as he told, among others GPblog: "For us to catch Mercedes, for us to catch Ferrari, in terms of pace, we've been behind them for two years. They've not really taken any steps forward, and we've taken a massive step forward with plenty more things that we know we can improve on. So I think it's a good time for us."

'McLaren is on the right track'

Norris is not saying that Red Bull Racing will be caught up or passed next season. However, he does feel the assumption is justified that McLaren has found the right direction. "So I'm really very proud of the whole team, because, like you said, if you were in Bahrain now, I looked ahead, I was, like, dreading the season already. So to come away with, what, seven podiums or something, and all the great moments we've had were definitely not expected."

The young Briton continued: "I've got to thank the team for all of that, and world record pit stop, all of those things. The team have done an amazing job in so many areas. Maybe [was Abu Dhabi] not the weekend we wanted to end the season with, but nevertheless, I'm proud, and I think we're on the right track, so I'm excited for next year."