McLaren has had a better start to the season than it did last few seasons in Formula One. The team is steadily catching up and gaining points over the course of the weekends in order to ensure a place in the top three for the constructor’s championship. In the Australian Grand Prix, the team finished P3 and P4 respectively, trailing Ferrari and Red Bull.
Ferrari pulled off 1-2 during the race in Melbourne and is a mere four points behind to take the lead in the constructor’s championship. McLaren seems to have worked out the issues they faced during the Suadi Arabian GP as the team had brilliant speed at Australia. With a positive outlook on the upcoming Japanese GP, the team principal of McLaren, Andrea Stella, believes they can close down the gap with Ferrari.
The positive news is that the Ferrari is faster but not much faster. We were very close, which I think is encouraging for Japan, a track that has a higher ratio of medium-high speed corners to low-speed ones. Andrea Stella said via formu1a.uno.
The Suzuka circuit in particular could turn out to be favourable for the Mclaren. By using that to their advantage and maximising the speed, McLaren could certainly beat Ferrari. McLaren’s this year’s goal was to close down the gap between the dominating teams, which seems like they are managing well.
Lando Norris is happy with the team’s pace
In the Australian Grand Prix, Lando Norris secured the first podium of the year and the first victory for McLaren overall. Comparing the team’s performance to the Jeddah race, it has greatly improved. The team is working hard to deliver an outstanding performance. With an optimistic view for the future, Norris told the media, after the Aus GP that,
He undercut us in the first stint so maybe a little bit of hope for second place. I think our pace was strong enough today. But Ferrari and Carlos did a very good job, so hats off to them, they’ve been fast all weekend. I felt good, I felt like I could manage the tyres very well today and that was a good step. I probably wasn’t expecting to be on the podium, so I’m very happy. Lando Norris said.
The Brit claimed that the team’s pace was probably a bit better than Ferrari’s. He believes they anticipated a good pace, but perhaps it was not enough to keep up with Charles Leclerc. In all honesty, Norris is aware that Ferrari has a faster car than McLaren, But with the pace they have now he believes for it to be a good sign.
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