McLaren seemed to be on track to launching a serious challenge for the likes of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari based on its improvements from 2019 to 2021.
However, last season went completely against the team’s expectations as both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo failed to make the most of the team’s challenger.
In all fairness, though, McLaren was guilty of completely messing up its design and the team knew from an early stage in the campaign that it would be a challenging season.
F1 journalist Ben Anderson has spotted the similarity in McLaren’s roadblock to that suffered by Fernando Alonso at the same team between 2015-2018.
Anderson believes it is a grim situation for a driver such as Lando Norris to find himself in and feels the Briton deserves better from his team.
Lando is one of the most talented drivers on the circuit and Red Bull has reportedly been after his signature for a while now, but he keeps turning them down.
Even Red Bull driver Max Verstappen holds Norris in high stead, saying that if he had a championship-worthy car, he would be amongst the running at the top of the field.
This opinion seems to be shared by Anderson, who explained Norris’ sticky spot at McLaren.
“McLaren must be mindful of wasting Norris in the way it wasted Alonso. Perhaps McLaren became slightly complacent after promising results at the end of the previous rules cycle in 2021 when Ricciardo won a race and Norris almost did too,” Anderson said.
McLaren’s continued struggles with development this season, where team principal Andreas Stella has himself given a dodgy assessment does not bode well for Lando’s immediate future.
Can Lando achieve F1 dream at McLaren?
There is absolutely no denying Lando Norris’ talents in F1 and in a field where there aren’t a great number of drivers that stick up and give you the feel of being potential world champions, Lando stands out.
His work ethic and ability behind the wheels is no secret in the sport, but if he is consistently offered a car that is just not good enough, it might be a wise option to actually take Red Bull boss Horner up on his offer.
F1 is a very volatile sport when the stock of a driver can plummet at a far sharper pace than one would usually expect.
Therefore, despite his relatively young age of 23, Norris should have a timeline at the back of his mind with regard to the time he will spend at McLaren before taking up a deal that will give him the best chance of becoming a world champion.
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