Lando Norris insists he never wanted to leave McLaren despite F1 slump at start of 2023

Lando Norris insists that at “no point” did he consider leaving McLaren during their F1 form slump at the start of the 2023 season.
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in the FIA Press Conference. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 13, Belgian Grand Prix, Spa
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in the FIA Press Conference. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 13,…

McLaren endu༒red a woeful start to the campaign, prompting suggestions that a frustrated Norris could seek an early exit from his contract that runs until the end of 2ꦐ025. 

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But recent upgrades have helped McLaren complete a sensational turnaround, with Norris claiming back-to-back podiums at Silverstone and in Hungary as he finished runner-up behind 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen’s dominant Red Bull. 

McLaren CEO Zak Brown expressed confidence that the team’s recent upswing in form would ultimately convince the highly-rated 23-year-old to168澳洲5最新开奖结果: “stick around”

And speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Norris stressed that leaving McLaren ꦗnever entered his mind despite a tor☂rid start to the year. 

"There were frustrating times and just difficult times but at no point did I th🧜ink this is not where I want to be," Norris said on Thursday. 

"I guess there is always a bit of relief just going from any difficult situation to having such a big change around. Evenඣ if we just took half the step we did take I think we would still have seen that as a positive sign. But the step was even bigger than we were expecting.

"So of course there's relief, bu꧑t not just for myself, I think for the whole team. We took quite a big step back over the winter to reassess everything that we're doing and the route we're taking and that's why we wer🧸e quite delayed with putting the upgrades that we've had in place and onto the car.

"But we took our time, we had to stay patient. Of course, there were some times I wished we had a more competitive car and I wished we could have started the year in a smoother way - especially because last year's start to the season was also very tough. It doesn't give you a lot of hope in the beginning o⛎f the year when you've struggled as much as what we did.

"I was still always very happy to be with the team that I'm with. I still h🎀ave a lot of faith that McLaren are able to achieve their goals and at the same time achi🌳eve my goals which are to win races and win championships with them.

"When you have days, upgrades and situations like this then of course there's relief that the꧅re are very positive signs that we can ju🐲mp ahead of Aston Martin, jump ahead of Ferrari, fight against Mercedes and not be far off a Red Bull from one upgrade.”

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren celebrates his second position in parc ferme with the team. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren celebrates his second position in parc ferme with the team. Formula…

A secret meeting between Norris’ agen♓t and Red Bull at the recent British Grand Prix sparked further speculation about th♛e Briton’s long-term F1 future. 

But Norris reiterated he is delighted by the progress McLaren h🐓ave made.&n💯bsp;

”The car is still difficult to drive, it's difficult to be consistent, I think we need to do a better job with tyre management and so on, I think that was clear from last weekend that it was one of our𝔉 weake🥃r areas," he added. 

"But I think we can be more than happy w🌳ith the step forward that we've made.

"As much as I'm always going to complain about certain things because tha𒁏t's what every driver does, for us to go fro🗹m where we were - struggling to get out of Q1 in the first few races - to fighting for pole is one of the biggest turnarounds in Formula 1 for a very long time and during the middle of the season.

"I'm very happy and there are always things to improve on which we are t🎃rying to do."

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