Norris realistic: 'This is what we expected'

McLaren started the new Formula 1 season poorly. Both of the team's cars had reliability problems in the race, and in qualifying, only Lando Norris managed to reach Q2. Norris hopes his team, like Aston Martin did this winter, can start to take a big step forward, although he says this is difficult in the middle of the season.

Oscar Piastri could not finish his debut race in Formula 1 with McLaren. He was forced to retire his car after only 12 laps. But Piastri's teammate also suffered problems. Norris had to make a pit stop every ten laps because of problems. The British team was also struggling for speed throughout the weekend. That was shown in qualifying, as Norris placed 11th and Piastri 18th. This was no surprise, according to Norris. " I think we are in a place that we totally expected," he told Racefans.net.

Norris is trying to draw hope from the performances of Ferrari and Aston Martin. Both teams made huge strides in performance over the winter of 2021 and 2022, respectively. "I think we clearly saw the huge step Aston made from one year to the next. We clearly saw the big step Ferrari took from 2021 to 2022. I know both steps were made in the winter, and then maybe there is more potential to make such a big change. But there is no reason why 50% or 75% of that cannot be done during the season," the Briton said.