Norris says McLaren must jump forward in 2023, à la Ferrari

Lando Norris is urging his McLaren team to emulate Ferrari this year by taking as big a step forward as the Scuderia managed last season.

Ferrari successfully negotiated Formula 1's regulation overhaul in 2022 to field a car that was F1's dominant contender at the start of the season and that propelled the Italian outfit from the upper tier of the midfield to the front of the grid.

The Scuderia's championship ambitions eventually waned, due to missteps and strategy errors, but it had nevertheless proven that it could produce a winning car from one season to the other.

Even one year into Grand Prix racing's new rules, Norris hopes McLaren can follow suit and produce gains with its new car that will allow the Woking-based outfit to achieve a significant step forward.

©McLaren"That’s achievable," contended Norris in an interview with Motorsport.com, comparing McLaren's situation to Ferrari's position a year ago.

"I think what they did was extremely good.

"Going from where they were [in 2021], from almost getting beat by us, to going to where they are getting wins, fighting for podiums every single weekend… That’s what we need to be aiming for.

"That level of a jump from one season to another.

"They’ve obviously had, not the luck, but they’ve maximised a new era, a new rules set for Formula 1 with new cars, which has allowed them to make a bigger jump than ever.

"But there’s still plenty of opportunities for us to achieve something like that. And that’s where we need to be setting our goals for."

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McLaren is still in the process of building out new infrastructure in Woking, namely a state-of-the-art new wind tunnel. McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown believes that his team won't be able to challenge for the world title until all of its tools are in place, meaning in 2025.

But Norris reckons that his team simply needs to better exploit the resources it has to make progress.

"The fact is, we have to do a better job and the team have to do a better job with making a better car," insisted the 23-year-old.

"I think already next year we need to make progress. I have good faith that we can. We have a huge amount of what we need in the right areas and the right people and so on.

"It's just that final hurdle, the final thing to get us up to the same level to then have no excuse against Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

"The team know that they need to do a better job."

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