Lando Norris admits superiority of Max Verstappen and “Checo” Pérez: “We are far from Red Bull”

The official pre-season practices that took place over the weekend in Bahrain allowed the teams to test the improvements to their cars ahead of the start of the 2024 season. Formula 1 next weekend, as well as serving to appreciate a small sample of the level that is expected.

And as expected, Red Bull He showed that he will be the rival to beat. This was considered by the Williams team driver, Lando Norris, who admitted the superiority that the three-time F1 champion, Max Verstappen and his Mexican partner currently have Sergio “Checo” Pérezwho will be in charge of the RB20 that has generated very good feelings.

“Do I think we have taken a step forward? Of course yes! I think we have improved many things? Yeah”the British driver responded forcefully before acknowledging that the McLaren team still needs to be on par with the energy drink team and Ferrari, the other team that demonstrated its power in Bahrain.

Lando Norris, 24 years old and who finished in sixth place in the drivers’ classification last F1 season, assured that they still have a lot of work ahead of them to be able to arrive in optimal conditions for the campaign that will start next weekend. with the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of a calendar with 24 races.

“We have taken some steps in the right direction, but we are still very far from Red Bull and Ferrari. “So we have a lot of work ahead of us, but also a lot of things we have learned in the last few days to put into practice before next week.”analyzed the British man who recognized that there are aspects to correct in the MCL38.

“In the end you never know where we are compared to the rest of the teams. I think we are in a good position. We had a decent car at the end of last season. Yeah, just a few hiccups here and there the last few days. It’s not the end of the world, of course, but you always want a perfect day.”considered the British.

But beyond what could be taken advantage of this weekend in Bahrain, Lando Norris was not entirely satisfied with the information they were able to gather to provide the team’s engineers in order to continue improving the car.

“On Thursday night we couldn’t do any long runs with a lot of fuel and on Friday morning we still couldn’t do it. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I learned a lot of things and wanted to do a lot of things. I was happy for the most part, but there are a couple of things I would have liked to do more of.”hill.

Keep reading:
– Helmut Marko, advisor to the Red Bull team, leaves the first message to Sergio “Checo” Pérez: “He has to get Max Verstappen out of his head”
– Fernando Alonso, from the Aston Martin team, considers the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Sergio “Checo” Pérez unbeatable
– Alex Albon (Williams) has no problem admitting that he feels ready to take the place from “Checo” Pérez at Red Bull: “I am ready”