Norris: "Mercedes engine step forward, but won't be everything"

McLaren chose Renault engines a few years ago after their collaboration with Honda turned out to be a fiasco. However, the Renault engine didn't immediately bring the progress they had hoped for. Now that the team is switching to a Mercedes engine in 2021, Lando Norris is trying to temper expectations.

"It's something to look forward to," says Norris in an interview after he's finished another sim race. This time for the All-Star championship of the Australian Supercars series. "I believe it's going to be something that brings us a step forward, but it's not going to be enough. There's still a lot of time in the chassis, so we can't rely on the engine alone".

For the time being, Norris and McLaren will have to make do with the Renault engine. If there's still racing to be done. At least it looks that way, but at this moment nothing is fixed. The young Brit doesn't know yet what his schedule will look like.

"They say we'll be racing again in Austria in a few months. We will do one race a weekend, but will probably stay on one circuit for several weeks. It's going to be physically tough to jump back into an F1 car, but I want to race again as soon as possible".