McLaren closes gap on Red Bull Racing: 'We were ahead of Perez'

McLaren were expected to struggle in 2021 with the new Mercedes engine, but nothing was further from the truth during the start of the season. McLaren are still at the top of the midfield and even seem to have moved a little closer to the top.

McLaren had the biggest task of all teams during the winter break. Where there were few changes to the car, McLaren had to work to fit the new engine from Mercedes into the chassis. The team couldn't use any other tokens besides these changes, so it was expected that other teams could make a bigger step.

However, where Aston Martin and Alpine have fallen away at the front of the midfield battle, McLaren is still there. They went into battle with Ferrari in Bahrain and came out victorious. Lando Norris even finished ahead of Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez, although, of course, that was also due to the difficult conditions for Perez.

''We finished ahead of Perez, so we can be happy with that. He did have some problems so he might have been further forward, but in qualifying, we were ahead of him as well. Not because he made big mistakes, but because they just couldn't get it right'', Norris said in a conversation with Motorsport.com.

The Brit feels that his team is closer to the top teams than it was last year. ''We are close, compared to last year we are not miles behind Mercedes and Red Bull. We have managed to close the gap quite nicely, hopefully, we can be even closer at certain circuits'', concludes the McLaren driver.