McLaren boss Zak Brown believes Lando Norris can hold his own against anyone in F1 and insists the young Briton is ripe for his first Grand Prix win.
After two formative first years in F1 with McLaren in 2019 and 2020, Norris established himself last season as the team's de facto leader after he succeeded in outpacing his high-profile teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
This year, after a slow start with McLaren's new-generation car, Norris scored consecutive top-ten finishes in Saudi Arabia, Melbourne and at Imola where the 22-year-old clinched his sixth career podium in F1, his first in 2022.
Although Norris is still developing, his outstanding "pure talent" puts him among Grand Prix racing's top drivers according to Brown.
©McLaren
"He is, in my opinion, as good as anyone in Formula 1. Unbelievably fast," the McLaren boss said, speaking on the F1 Nation podcast.
"But... there are a lot of fast drivers in Formula 1. I think the part I’m most impressed with with Lando is how few mistakes he makes.
"And his mistakes are small, a track limit, locked up a brake; you haven’t seen him many times put the car in the fence, run wide on a corner under pressure and make a mistake.
"I think as far as pure natural talent, I think he has as much as anyone in Formula 1."
Brown reckons that Norris, armed with the right equipment, is ripe for stepping into F1's winner's circle, a feat the Briton almost achieved last season in Russia.
"I think as long as we continue to show forward progress, he will be satisfied his win is not far away,” said the American.
"I mean, he could have won three races in a row last year.
"In Monza, there was nothing between he and Daniel, in Russia had it not been for the call at the end of the race, that race was his to win. And Spa, he was the fastest person in qualifying by some margin all the way up until he had his accident.
"So, he could have won three on the trot. So… he’s ready to win for sure, we just need to put him in a position to win."
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