Lando Norris believes that McLaren's double podium in last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix holds more merit than the team's 1-2 achieved at Monza in 2021.
A solid display by team papaya at Suzuka delivered to the outfit its first double podium of the season and its first since the outfit's 1-2 at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 2021.
On that occasion, Daniel Ricciardo had stood on the highest step of the podium, flanked by Norris. But although the Aussie had led the field from start to finish at the Temple of Speed, a collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had left McLaren's drivers without any real challengers for the remainder of the race.
Norris says that the Woking-based outfit claimed its best result of the year in Japan on merit, with no outside circumstances facilitating its task.
"From the team’s side of things, yes, I’m much happier," he said. "Our first one since Monza a few years ago. But in a way, our most deserved in terms of we’re there on pure pace.
"Nothing had to go our way, we’re just where we deserved to be.
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"Yep, an incredible day for everyone, but also for myself, things went maybe not always to plan, but the pace was extremely strong.
"Couldn’t challenge Max, I got into the lead for maybe half a second, so I’ll take that. In a way it feels better because the pace feels stronger, I could push.
"We were where we deserved to be. So a good job by the whole team to execute a perfect race."
McLaren's strong momentum of late coupled with Aston Martin's indisputable slump has allowed the team to reduce the gap to the latter in F1's Constructors' standings to 49 points.
But with six races to go, Norris believes McLaren can bridge that gap and claim fourth in the championship thanks in part to the consistent performance of both its drivers, whereas Fernando Alonso is pretty much on his own at Aston Martin.
"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 this points," Norris said.
"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. So we’re on an upward trend.
"We’re making good progress and days like today prove exactly that. Even though I know there’s going to be maybe some tougher races coming up at times and maybe not as straightforward as today but the progress we’ve made this season has been pretty incredible.
"So I’m proud of everyone and we’ll keep pushing."
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