McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl believes Lando Norris could slot himself among F1's top four Mercedes/Red Bull title contenders if team and driver sustain their current level of performance and consistency.
Norris has finished among the top five in each of the first three rounds of the 2021 season, with the Briton snatching a podium at Imola.
Norris' strong opening races, in which he outpaced on each occasion his high-profile teammate Daniel Ricciardo, have positioned the McLaren driver third in the Drivers' standings.
And Seidl reckons the 21-year-old could hold his own among the front-runners if consistency continues to prevail.
©McLaren
"There's always a chance," said Seidl, quoted by Motorsport.com. "But it's simply important that we, together with Lando, keep delivering weekend by weekend.
"Consistency is king, together with performance obviously, in order to outscore cars that on paper, and in reality, are definitely quicker than us."
"But if we keep delivering upgrades to the car, if Lando keeps doing what he did so far these first three races, it will end up in keeping the pressure on these guys ahead of us and then there will be opportunities to finish races in front of them.
"But, at the same time, you need to be realistic. If these guys get their act together each weekend, then we simply have to acknowledge or accept we are not there yet in terms of performance."
Seidl hasn't been short of praise for Norris since the start of McLaren's 2021 campaign, often underlining how his young charger has blossomed and "made the next step" in terms of his racecraft and maturity.
The German says Portimão last weekend offered another confirmation of Norris' development.
"In Portugal he simply continued what we have seen from him in the first two race weekends," said Seidl. "He's pulling it off when it matters.
"He's at one with the car and with the team. I think, again, he drove a brilliant race, doing great manoeuvres, and great overtaking moves also.
"He always kept his engineering team updated with the overview in order to make sure we execute the tyre strategy in the right way, and I would say he had the race under control at every second."
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