Norris “proudest” to have stuck with McLaren as F1 title looms

Lando Norris will take great pride if he leads McLaren to its first Formula 1 constructors’ title in 26 years after revealing he has previously turned down opportunities to leave the team.

McLaren leads second-placed Ferrari by 21 points heading into Sunday’s Abu Dhabi season finale, where Norris took pole position and will start alongside team-mate Oscar Piastri on the front row.

The Woking squad’s turnaround has been one of the stories in 2024 having finished no higher than fourth in the previous three years.

Norris, who took his maiden race victory in May’s Miami Grand Prix, pushed Max Verstappen closer than anybody though the Red Bull driver still claimed a fourth world championship.

But McLaren is now the heavy favourite to land the constructors’ crown and for Norris, it would justify sticking with the squad since his F1 debut in 2019.

“Oscar’s probably fortunate not to go through those first few years that we’ve had,” he said. “I mean, there’s some very fun years. Yeah, that’s true. We didn’t start off great last year, but I had some great times.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, pole man Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, in the post Qualifying Press Conference

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

“We made progress, stepped back, made progress, stepped back. Nothing ever clicked, really, and never continued to grow.

“It was hard just to break that barrier of getting close to Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull because for such a long period of time, they’ve been the guys who have dominated Formula 1.

“Now, not only have we broken that barrier over the last year and a half, we’ve risen to the top of it to become the best team and leading and hopefully to go on to win.

“So it definitely has been a longer rise to get to where we are, which has been fun and I’ve really loved it. I think the thing I’ll be proudest and most happy about is the fact I’m still here.

“The fact I’m still in papaya because I believed in the team for many years. I had opportunities to not be in papaya and to maybe go on and win races at an earlier stage in my career and those kind of things.

“I had those opportunities, but I believed and I wanted to simply do it with McLaren. I wanted to do it with the guys who gave me my opportunity in Formula 1.

Pole man Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, arrives in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“And as much as we didn’t think it was going to be possible this year, we’re hoping for next year.

“Next year was our kind of in-line target, on-paper target. The fact we’re doing it this year is an even bigger achievement.”

While McLaren’s rise back to the top of F1 has garnered plenty of attention and earned praise for both drivers and the team structure in place, Norris feels there is still not a full comprehension of the hard work required to accomplish the feat.

“I don’t think, simply from the outside, people would give McLaren and my team enough credit for what they’ve done, what they’ve turned around, because it’s not an easy sport,” he added.

“It may look simple at times from the outside and things like that. And even I think sometimes things are more simple than what they look. We can only just give a hats off to the whole team, because a lot of things have changed.

“People have come and gone, and Andrea (Stella, team principal) has done an incredible job. So to be part of this whole story, to be part of it not long after Zak (Brown, CEO) joined McLaren [in 2016] and started changing things and making McLaren into a slightly more happy place than it was prior.

“I’ve been along the journey with Zak, and we’ve gone through a lot of things together, highs and lows and emotional times.

“Job not done, and Andrea will be happy that I say it, but I’m proud to be on this journey, to have been on it with McLaren for so many years, and I’ll be very happy when hopefully it’s all finished off.”