Norris hails ‘best run of races I’ve had so far in Formula 1’ but remains realistic on McLaren consistency

Lando Norris sits a brilliant fourth in the Championship ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, and the McLaren driver has declared this run of three races to be his “best” so far in Formula 1 – yet he’s warned that the battle is so close, McLaren may not always be at the top of the midfield.

Norris’s Imola podium led McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl to say that he’s “made the next step as a driver”, and the Briton followed that up with a fifth-place finish last time out in Portugal. Heading into Round 4 at Barcelona, the young Briton talked about his season so far.

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“It’s been, definitely, the best season I’ve had so far, the best continuation of races that I’ve had so far in Formula 1,” he began, “So I would love to keep it up, but a good race doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of points and great position.

“A good race could be if we finished eighth or ninth, it could be that we’ve achieved everything that we can. We’ll wait and see; it’s very close between a lot of the pack, especially towards the middle, and it can definitely swing one way or another. We’ll try and keep doing what we’re doing but it’s not easy and it won’t be a surprise if we’re a little bit further back every now and then."

Asked why he’s not keeping his hopes too high this season, Norris explained that he was being realistic as things can always go wrong over the course of a race weekend.

“I mean, I think things have gone very well for us,” he said. “I feel like I’m doing a good job myself through qualifying and putting in the laps when I need to. Maybe not so much at Imola or Portugal in Q3… but everything apart form that has gone very well and the race as well, on the restarts, the launches, a lot of things are going well but it’s just as easy for it to go not so well.

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“I want to continue what we’re doing. Being behind Mercedes and Red Bull is still the target and where we believe we can be. I’m not getting my hopes up too much for every race. We’ll try to do what we’re doing and continue it, but it very easily could be a P6, a P7 or a P8. I’m realistic, but I’m sure we can continue what we’re doing.” he added.

Heading to Spain, McLaren sit third in the table ahead of Ferrari and Norris is ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in the standings. While his feet are on the ground, the young McLaren driver’s performances are keeping his team at the top of the midfield fight at the moment.