Lando Norris says McLaren's current situation has been portrayed in a much darker light than reality, the Briton insisting his team is nowhere near being in crisis.
McLaren's offered a first indication of its subdued demeanor during the presentation of its 2023 car, when team boss Andrea Stella admitted that he wasn't all that happy with the MCL60's launch specification.
Pre-season testing delivered a similar low-key verdict, while McLaren's opening race in Bahrain was undermined by reliability issues impacting both cars.
After the race, Stella suggested that without its troubles, a double top-ten finish would have been possible for McLaren at Sakhir.
Fortunately, the causes for Norris and Oscar Piastri's demise in the race were linked to rare issues which have since been understood.
"Oscar’s problem, it was an issue that we’ve had the first time we’ve seen in years and years and years," Norris said. "So, confident that’s fixed.
"And from my issue, Mercedes are sure that they fixed that and it was, again, something which hasn’t happened for years and years.
"So both quite rare issues. And both things that we’re confident, both from HPP side and from McLaren side that are fixed."
McLaren's development programme will see the team implement significant updates on its MCL60 in Baku in April. In the interim, Norris insists the team's plight isn't as dire as some have made it out to be.
"I don’t know, everyone makes it sound a lot worse than it is," he said. "And calling it [a] crisis is far from that at all and it’s nothing close to it.
"So, no, we’re confident we can get some good points, I would say, this weekend. I think it’s a close fight for… with Valtteri [Bottas], with Alfa and a lot of those teams."
Norris even reckoned that McLaren wasn't far off from recouping a spot among F1's top four which now includes – in addition to Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes – Aston Martin.
"I don’t think we’re that far away," he said. "It was made very clear and very early on that we’re far from where we want to be.
"And like you said, for McLaren’s expectations and who we are as a team, we’re far from where we want to be. But we have a very clear plan.
"I think it’s very clear from everyone back in MTC and here what we need to achieve and want to achieve. It’s just going about setting it and achieving it, which is our next call."
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