Sakhir [Bahrain], February 29 : Lando Norris believes McLaren has not made as much progress as he and the team would want ahead of the 2024 season, and the Briton admits that his team may struggle in this weekend's first race in Bahrain.
Looking back at 2023, the Woking-based team had a rough start to the season, starting in Bahrain with a pre-upgrade vehicle that finished towards the bottom of the grid in the first three races. However, after the modifications began to come from Austria, McLaren made amazing progress and, at times, proved to be the closest opponent to Red Bull at various Grand Prix in the second part of the season.
In terms of how things are going this time, Norris noted that the squad's 2024 pre-season testing was more successful, but he believes their exact position in the pecking order is still uncertain.
"Good question! It's a question I think everyone's asking. I think we kind of have a rough idea of where we're at, but we don't actually really know where we stand compared to a few other teams," Norris said ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, as quoted by Formula 1.
"I think it's clear [who] the top two [are], then there's a bit of a bunch behind, which is Mercedes, Aston [Martin] and us. But in terms of how the pre-season test went, it was a lot better than last year and we're in a much better position than last year, so that's the most important thing," Norris added.
When asked why he looked to be a little pessimistic about the start of the season, Norris revealed that McLaren's improvement over the winter had not been as great as they had hoped.
"It's just an honest answer to where I think we stand. I think until we get to Friday, [when] we get to qualifying, it's tricky to know where we're going to stand against some other teams. I think it's pretty close with several," the 24-year-old said.
"I think there's a lot of expectation for us as a team, just because of how well we progressed last year. [At] certain races we were the closest to Red Bull and definitely not far away; [at] certain other races we were still a long way off, easily behind Mercedes, easily behind Ferrari, easily behind Red Bull, and at times fighting with the teams behind that, so we were still just very inconsistent," he said.
Norris said Bahrain had never been an ideal circuit for them but he believes it's far too fast to judge.
"Bahrain has never been a good circuit for us. We've never had one of our strongest races ever in Bahrain, so I think it's way too quick to judge and just say, 'Okay, we're not going to be great here in Bahrain, that's the end of the season for us,' he added.
"I think for everyone, because everyone's so up and down, you have to give us two, three, four [or] five races to get the first honest review of where everyone stands against one another, and not just judge it off of the performance that we're going to see here in Bahrain," Norris stated.
Despite this, Norris remains optimistic about the team's chances at other forthcoming sites on the 2024 schedule.
"I'm still confident when we go to certain circuits where we were fast last year, like going back to Suzuka and things like that, I'm confident we can still be one of the best cars. But Bahrain has just not suited our car necessarily, and exactly for that reason, I think that's why we're going to struggle a bit more here, but I'm confident we can turn it around later down the line," he added.
As the pre-season came to an end, the 2024 F1 Bahrain GP marked the beginning of the season, with the race taking place on Saturday.
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