Norris can't fight Verstappen yet: "That's hard to swallow"
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- GPblog.com
Lando Norris is currently third in the Drivers' World Championship, but the question is whether he can keep that up until the end of the season. The McLaren driver knows that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez have a relatively good chance of overtaking him. The Brit sometimes finds it hard to cope with a car that is just not competitive enough to compete for wins.
"I have to accept it as a fact," Norris told NOS about that the W12 and RB16B of Mercedes and Red Bull respectively are faster. "They are too fast and the gap is huge. Of course that's difficult. Being happy with fifth place is not in me. Being lapped by the leader and finishing half a lap behind the number four is not something we get excited about. That's why I enjoy the rare moments."
Such scarce moments include beating the top teams in qualifying. "Beating a driver of Mercedes or Red Bull on Saturday gives a kick, but then I immediately realise that in the race I can hardly defend that position. Then I drive third and I know: in a few laps they will pass me again. That is hard to swallow. I know I can duel with them, but not with my current car. In a Red Bull I can beat Max and Sergio. In a Mercedes I drive the pace of Lewis and Valtteri. That's how I have to think," he said.
2022 rules favourable for McLaren?
New rules will be introduced in Formula 1 next year. Will that bring McLaren closer to its two biggest rivals? "I'm sure it will help a little, but not much. Mercedes and Red Bull Racing remain the top teams. They are richer, have more employees and therefore more time to invest in the new car. It's not for nothing that they are so much faster than the rest. There are a lot of extremely clever people working for those teams and they will still be there next year," Norris concluded.