McLaren’s Lando Norris says he’s “ready to beat” Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen next season after completing his most successful season in Formula One. The 22-year-old, who has recently moved to Monaco, will remain alongside McLaren in 2022 after a 2021 season which saw him pick up four podiums, a maiden pole, and come agonisingly close to a maiden win in Russia.
Yet in the latter part of the season, McLaren seemed to struggle, with Norris dropping away from Hamilton and Verstappen in the driver standings.
The Briton ended up finishing sixth in the standings, 4.5 points behind the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jnr, with his highlight an impressive second-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix.
“The only thing it really gives you is confidence that, if you’re there more often or you have a better car, then there’s no reason why they should be able to beat you if you’re in the same car,” the McLaren driver explained.
“Every time I raced against Lewis or [Valtteri] Bottas, or Max or [Sergio] Perez, I think the only thing it really gives you is more confidence.
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“That’s the only thing, is that you know that they will be thinking of every single thing possible in order to attack you and to race against you and overtake you.”
Earlier this week, one of Norris’ bosses, the executive racing director Andrea Stella, hailed the Briton as “one of the strongest drivers” in F1 but did admit there is still some work to do.
Speaking ahead of the new season, Stella said: “I think Lando, in his third year of Formula 1, has developed in terms of, first of all, pure speed.