Lando Norris is all set to enter his fifth season with McLaren and during all these years we have seen the British racing driver get only better. Norris joined the Woking-based squad in 2019 and since then he has been partnered up with Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo. With Sainz, the team might have seen a bit of consistency but with Ricciardo, it wasn’t what was expected. So this leaves Norris with only ‘Patience’, which he has to keep up until the team is capable of competing with the top three. These remarks echoed Norris’ philosophy to the extreme.

Norris hasn’t yet won a Grand Prix despite consistently finishing on the podium during his time with the papaya team since he lacked the raw speed to threaten the top three. However, despite all the talks, the answer to the question of when the Woking-based outfit will be ready to compete with the big three is 2025, as only by then the team be able to benefit from wind tunnel and other infrastructure investments.

Norris remarked in a statement at the McLaren car launch event, ” We are a team who should be able to win championships and we will soon have everything in place to do so. A successful year would be to still take some big steps forward, a year where we can get back to fighting at the front of the midfield confidently – that’s something that slipped away from us last year – and leading the fight for the top three teams.”

Norris feels that there’s still a lot to develop in the team to give the fight to the top three, he added,” If we can end this season around that spot, where are fighting for fourth constructor and leading the way to the top three, we can be happy. That is a realistic goal. You can’t expect us to be level with the Red Bull and Ferrari and Mercedes this year, there is still a way to go for that.”

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Not only for his prowess on the track but the young brit is also known for the times he has come up to talk about the social issues that are close to him, like mental health. So, after the FIA imposed a restriction on making political statements, many drivers voiced their opinions, and it was only natural for Lando to express his views as well.

Lando Norris speaks up against the FIA’s new restrictions

The FIA and the drivers have been engaged in a high-voltage drama for quite some time. All of this began when the governing body decided to forbid drivers from making comments about personal, religious, or political topics without permission. However, the FIA’s revision of the rules has drawn considerable criticism from fans and drivers, and at the unveiling of the McLaren MCL 60, Lando Norris decided to go vocal.

As per MSN, Lando said, “F1 have made things clear as to what is acceptable and what we should be able to do and I stand by the fact that we should be able to say what we want and what we believe in. We are not in a school and we shouldn’t have to ask about everything, and say, ‘can we do this?’ and ‘can we do that?’ We are grown up enough to make smart decisions.”

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There will be numerous new F1 pairings to watch out for when the new season gets underway. One of them is Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and it will be fascinating to see the duo thrive for McLaren. Having said that, do you believe the new combination can outperform the memorable combo of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris?