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Lando Norris believes they missed out on an opportunity to clinch second place in the 2024 Australian GP. Speaking in the post race press conference, the McLaren driver felt they had the pace to beat at least one of the Ferraris in Albert Park.
Still in the hunt for his first win, Lando Norris is now one of the drivers on the grid to have the maximum podiums without a race victory. The McLarens and Ferraris were quick in the build up to the weekend and even quicker than the Red Bull. With Max Verstappen retired from the race after the third lap, at least one podium was up for grabs for both the McLarens.
The 24-year-old finished third while his teammate finished fourth. However, their qualifying pace made the difference when it came to the Ferraris edging them out. He felt that maybe they could have clinched a second place but they might have lacked the pace to clinch a win. Lando Norris felt that they might have had the pace to compete with the Red Bulls despite the Dutchman’s retirement.
Describing his race and the chances of finishing higher than third, Lando Norris said:
“I think when you take the Red Bull out of it I would say, no. I think our pace has been good all weekend. We put things together very nicely yesterday. We showed a good long run and high-fuel pace on Friday. So I wouldn't have said we had no chance. I didn't expect probably us to be competing against the Ferraris today. I think our pace was not as good as Carlos, but probably better than Charles.”
“So I think if I was being honest we maybe missed out a little bit on an opportunity to be P2 today. But yeah, for us to say that is a good sign. And I think it's a good positive for the whole team. It's a good boost. It's nice to be back on the podium. Whether or not the Red Bull was there or not our pace was good today and hopefully that continues for more races.”
Lando Norris feels he was very close to clinching second place in Australia
Lando Norris believes that prior to his second pitstop, he was very close to beating Charles Leclerc. He felt that an undercut strategy could have propped him ahead of the Monegasque in the race but they did not get the opportunity. Instead, the Ferrari driver pitted on the very lap they had planned to undercut him.
As a result of it, they were left with no choice but to respond by pitting for a tyre change after. Nevertheless, he believes his team did a good job getting both cars to finish third and fourth which earned them solid points.
Asked if at any point an undercut could have aided him to beat Leclerc or there was more that could have been done, Lando Norris said:
“I mean, we didn't leave anything on the table but yeah the lap we were going to undercut, he boxed. So then again you have to go off and do kind of a different strategy. We got close in the second stint. I got very close. If I boxed, I think I would have undercut. But he boxed, so I missed that opportunity. So you always think, what happens if we did it one lap earlier? But it's tough to make all those decisions at the time. And it can easily go wrong at the same time.There are always consequences of doing so.”
“I think we still did a very good job today. Third and fourth for us, as a team, is positive and a good load of points. But they were clearly a better team, and they have a better car at the minute. So whether or not we could beat them, they have a better car, they have a quicker car, and we have to work harder until we can match what they're doing.”
Suggesting that Ferrari clearly had the better teamwork and the quicker car, Lando Norris felt there is room for improvement to beat them in the future. McLaren’s current points haul from Melbourne has leapfrogged them ahead of Mercedes in the constructors' standings. They lead the Silver Arrows squad by 29 points.
Given the form of the Woking team, they are expected to close in on Ferrari and Red Bull as their season progresses. While they have had a delay on their development due to a short off-season and cost cap, they have started the 2024 season on a better footing than previous years.
