Lando Norris has candidly admitted that McLaren find themselves significantly behind their Formula 1 competitors when it comes to car development.
The world champion reckons his team are roughly two to three months adrift of where they need to be – and that’s a tough gap to close.
It’s been a challenging start to the new regulations era for the reigning two-time constructors’ champions, who currently sit 143 points behind Mercedes in the standings.
The Silver Arrows have been utterly dominant so far, claiming victory in seven of the opening eight grands prix this season.
Lando Norris has admitted his McLaren side are months behind their rivals
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Norris was clear that a single upgrade simply won’t cut it when you’re this far behind.
“We need three, four, five, but it depends,” he explained.
“Sometimes you take one little piece at a time, sometimes you try and make something so everything goes together because it’s a new philosophy.”
The British driver, who currently occupies fifth place in the Drivers’ Championship, believes the road back to competitiveness will take considerable time.
“I don’t think we’re going to be quickest anytime soon but hopefully over the next three, four, five months we can catch up and we can narrow the gap to be on pace with them.”
Team principal Andrea Stella has been equally frank about the situation, acknowledging that McLaren are losing around three to four tenths of a second per lap compared to the frontrunners.
Lando Norris sits fifth in the World Championship standings – 92 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli
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“We tend to see pretty much the same pattern across different tracks. So it’s a very consistent picture, and we know exactly what we have to do. We have to upgrade the MCL40,” he said.
The Italian boss is taking inspiration from Red Bull’s remarkable comeback last season, when Max Verstappen unexpectedly took the Drivers’ Championship battle right down to the wire against McLaren themselves.
Stella isn’t convinced that Mercedes will maintain their pace advantage throughout the entire campaign.
“Mercedes started with an advantage of a few tenths of a second but if they don’t develop their car with another substantial upgrade, I wouldn’t be surprised that in the second part of the season we see another team being the fastest car,” he noted.
The team boss made clear that mounting a late title challenge is exactly what drives everyone at Woking.
“Ultimately this is what drives our motivation – we want to be that team and we want to be that driver that sets a challenge to Mercedes.”
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is up next, with the Sprint format returning to the home race.
