The 2022 season brings with itself a load of technical changes. This has led to some new rivalries and the awakening of some old ones. There have been some major revivals with the likes of Ferrari looking menacing throughout practice. McLaren had also initially shown signs of improvement, but lately has run into some problems. However, Lando Norris believes that they are not that far off their rivals.

Lando Norris on 2022

McLaren looked good at first in the Barcelona pre-testing, but since then it has not been much progress on track for the team. They have also struggled with other issues such as driver Daniel Ricciardo catching COVID right before the season opener in Bahrain.

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Although the Australian has recovered and will race, it is still a bump in the road for him and McLaren. However, his teammate Lando Norris claims that they are not that far off the pace.

He believes that they are within touching distance of Ferrari and Red Bull and, given time, they will catch up to the two. Although some fans disagree.

While others count on the fact that McLaren will catch up and perhaps become the team to beat this season.

McLaren in the season opener

So far, it has not been the best showing for McLaren in the Practice sessions of the season opener at Bahrain. The Woking outfit had both cars outside the top 10, with Lando in 11 and Ricciardo all the way down in 18th.

In contrast, the top 3 spots were filled by Max Verstappen and the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. So McLaren might be more than a few steps behind the red team and blue team.

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However, there is still a small chance that they have a better showing as the season progresses as they still might have a few cards up their sleeve. How do you think McLaren will fare this year?