Lando Norris has hailed McLaren’s recent progress this season as “pretty incredible”, with the British driver believing it’s been made possible by himself and Oscar Piastri being competitive.
Whilst the start of the season was woeful for the Woking-based team, the side have flown up the pecking order since the Austrian Grand Prix, where they introduced a huge upgrades package.
The package saw McLaren introduce several parts inspired by Red Bull, who clinched the Constructors’ Championship last weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Further upgrades over recent rounds have simply propelled McLaren even higher, to the point where they’re seen by many as potential race winners before the end of the season.
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Since Austria, McLaren have consistently been amongst the leading teams, to the extent that Norris has claimed four P2 finishes in the last seven races.
He was on the rostrum again last weekend in Suzuka, where he overtook Piastri on the run into Turn 1.
Piastri also featured on the podium in Japan, after securing P3 for the first time in his F1 career.
Both Norris and Piastri have consistently been scoring big points since Austria, something which has seen McLaren get ever closer to Aston Martin in the fight for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
With six races remaining, McLaren sit just 49 points behind Aston Martin, a deficit they are expected to overhaul with ease based on their current form.
Norris thinks that himself and Piastri being amongst the frontrunners is what’s “helping” McLaren currently, with the likes of Aston Martin only having Fernando Alonso to rely on.
“I think our advantage at the minute comparing to almost every team, bar a couple, is we have two drivers who are up there fighting for these positions and fighting for these points,” Norris said after the Japanese GP.
“And not every team has that at the minute. So I think that’s helping us. We can help one another, we can use one another, and I think that’s a good advantage we have over a lot of other teams at the minute.
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“So we’re on an upward trend. We’re making good progress and days like today prove exactly that.
“The progress we’ve made this season has been pretty incredible from my eyes, and from where we were to finishing 19 seconds behind the lead is, I think, evidence of exactly that.
“So I’m proud of everyone and we’ll keep pushing.”