F1 News: “If I Suck, Tell Me I Suck”: Lando Norris Gets Brutally Honest Amid McLaren’s Bold Promise for 2024

The time for fun and games are over and now it’s all serious business. Serious business with consequences and accountability. We are just over a month away from the first race of the new season. No one is exempt and anyone who doesn’t stand up to the high expectations and standards of Formula 1 will be held accountable in this ambitious McLaren team, including Lando Norris.

If the turnaround in the middle of 2023 wasn’t enough, McLaren has surely grabbed everyone’s attention with this recent show of intent. The team launched a “Whatever it takes” campaign to unveil their 2024 challenger and outline their aspirations for 2024. With his team making this bold promise, Norris has showcased his seriousness toward the upcoming season with a brutally honest statement in an exclusive with McLaren.

“When working with my engineers, in terms of being very open with one another, that is not something new or something I have only just learned, it is something I have always done and continue to do,” he said.

“I just prefer the honest truth. I would rather have the brutal, honest truth. If I suck, tell me I suck. If I’m good, tell me I’m good. It is not always easy to do, but it is very important, and we will continue to do this to teach and help other people,” he concluded.

Read More: “It’s Been Emotional”: Lando Norris Left Overwhelmed as First Podium at Home Made Special by Fans

This highly critical approach is a positive sign with the Brit entering his 6th year in the sport. It showcases his hunger and his desire for substantial results. In fact, he started showing glimpses of this mentality before the 2023 upgrades as well.

Lando Norris’ honest assessment of McLaren’s poor state with a shocking list of shortcomings

The Woking outfit missed their developmental targets in the winter and were seriously lacking behind in the grid hierarchy at the start of the previous season. This disappointing scenario continued until the mid season revamp which put them right up there in the competition. Although, because of these shortcomings, we did see a highly critical an ambitious side of Norris after the 2023 Miami GP.

After the P17 finish in the race, Norris said, “It’s not that it’s not clear how to improve it. It’s still a lot of work to improve it and a lot of time. I think it’s very clear. It shows how track-dependent or track characteristic biased it is, temperature biased as well. If it was a much colder day, our performance for sure, 100% would’ve been much better, relative to other teams.”

He criticized this track dependence further and added,

They improved and how. They ended the season at 4th place in the Constuctors with 9 podiums. This is precisely why heading into the 2024 season, the ambition and expectations are higher and so will the consequences. It will be interesting to see how they tackle the pressure.