Lando Norris has expressed hope that McLaren will deliver a significantly stronger performance following a challenging weekend in Monaco. The team struggled throughout the race weekend in the Principality, with Norris ultimately forced to retire due to power unit issues. Meanwhile, teammate Oscar Piastri managed to secure a respectable fourth-place finish amid a chaotic race.
Reflecting on the weekend, Norris acknowledged the difficulties. “We have to be optimistic,” he said on the F1 official website. “It just wasn’t a good weekend overall. Oscar’s result wasn’t too bad, but the pace was tough for both of us, and for me, reliability was a real problem.”
The British driver described the experience of not finishing the race as “painful,” but praised the efforts of the entire McLaren team, including their power unit partner HPP, who are working hard to diagnose and fix the issues to prevent future failures. “It’s part of racing sometimes,” Norris noted, adding, “Head down, we keep pushing.”
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Norris is feeling more positive ahead of the upcoming race in Barcelona. “I wasn’t very optimistic before Monaco, and it unfortunately turned out that way. But I’m happy to be back on track and keen to show the pace we had in Montreal and Miami.”
He believes the Barcelona weekend offers a chance to regain confidence. “Monaco was so poor, it was almost shocking—not just a bad performance. But three weeks ago in Miami, things were very good. We were very happy then. Monaco hurt a lot, especially since we won there last year. Going from a win to such a tough race was difficult.”
Looking ahead, Norris remains confident that McLaren can return to competing for podiums and eventually wins. “Getting a strong result here will be crucial for the rest of the year and the morale of the whole team. We want to prove that we can fight at the front again soon.”