{"id":16529,"date":"2023-10-14T05:01:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T09:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=16529"},"modified":"2023-10-14T05:01:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T09:01:47","slug":"lando-norris-believes-mclaren-can-exploit-ferrari-stagnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/10\/14\/lando-norris-believes-mclaren-can-exploit-ferrari-stagnation\/","title":{"rendered":"Lando Norris believes McLaren can exploit Ferrari stagnation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Lando Norris believes McLaren can overtake Ferrari in this year&#8217;s Championship, despite the points gap between the two teams.<\/h3>\n<p>There are many battles in the F1 constructors&#8217; standings that could be unresolved until the end of 2023. The battle for 7th, for example, sees the likes of Williams and Alfa Romeo within a few points of each other. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/10\/13\/haas-thankful-to-finish-last-race-before-make-or-break-upgrades\/\" target=\"_self\">Upgrades for Haas in COTA,<\/a> alongside a more competitive AlphaTauri, could see this battle continue raging. However, the top 5 positions are also heavily contested.<\/p>\n<p>During the summer break, many F1 circles discussed McLaren&#8217;s chances of overtaking Aston Martin in the standings. At one stage, it seemed near-impossible for McLaren to close this gap. The mere 11 points currently separating these teams suggests that Andrea Stella&#8217;s team will inevitably climb into 4th place.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"g1xc_I0PS95Ld4dUXWwMgA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1628182788\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'g1xc_I0PS95Ld4dUXWwMgA',sig:'dDyw5CGUhSN18NPf8Nviv15K7okhUPQ23Y8usws2d2M=',w:'594px',h:'397px',items:'1628182788',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mercedes and Ferrari are also in a hotly contested battle to finish 2023 in P2 behind Red Bull. With that said, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/10\/13\/mclaren-reveal-early-optimism-for-2024-development\/\" target=\"_self\">recent events indicate that McLaren could throw a spanner in the works.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Norris shows confidence<\/h3>\n<p>Fresh off another podium finish in Qatar, Lando Norris explained that McLaren is capable of overtaking Ferrari in the Championship:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It\u2019s doable. I think so. A couple of races ago it was, 70-something [points] to Aston. I don&#8217;t know what it is now? Seventeen? I mean, Fernando said we were overconfident as well!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re just doing a good job, not just in terms of pace but today we had a 1.8 second pit stop, which is pretty impressive from the guys. They&#8217;ve been working extremely hard so to reward the whole team consistently is only more motivating and a bigger boost every weekend. They like the taste of success&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But like I was comparing to Ferrari, it was only three weekends ago that Ferrari were Pole and almost winning races. And nothing has really changed, it&#8217;s just a different track.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re looking better, they\u2019re looking a bit worse. I think we&#8217;re definitely not overconfident. We&#8217;re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there&#8217;s still going to be some races where we&#8217;re not going to be quite as strong.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>P3 on the cards for McLaren<\/h3>\n<p>For McLaren to overturn the deficit to Ferrari, they will need to outscore the Italian outfit by 80 points. At face value, this might seem beyond reach for the Woking-based team.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"hWezQjKEToZvSLu6RnKX7w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1715265771\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'hWezQjKEToZvSLu6RnKX7w',sig:'mtI-crSMqhFCJsuFFs7ZcglO8Ukj5Idx8X-YMI4zwdY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1715265771',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A closer analysis says otherwise. Across the last five rounds of 2023, McLaren can secure an unlikely 3rd place by outscoring Ferrari at a rate of 16 points every weekend. To achieve this, Norris and Piastri will need to secure top-5 finishes without fault &#8211; until the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>Considering the MCL60&#8217;s current performance, this is not an unrealistic target. McLaren has two drivers who can optimise their package, as evidenced by their consistent podium finishes in recent events.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the two remaining Sprint weekends in 2023 mean there are extra points on the table. To be clear, it will be a tall order for Andrea Stella&#8217;s team to overturn the gap.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrari&#8217;s speed in Monza and Singapore is evidence that the SF-23 is capable of strong results. Any retirements or non-point finishes will be detrimental to the ambitious target set by Lando Norris.<\/p>\n<p>Still, for a team capable of taking 30+ points per weekend, it would be unwise to dismiss McLaren&#8217;s chances of climbing the order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lando Norris believes McLaren can overtake Ferrari in this year&#8217;s Championship, despite the points gap between the two teams. There are many battles in the F1 constructors&#8217; standings that could be unresolved until the end of 2023. The battle for 7th, for example, sees the likes of Williams and Alfa Romeo within a few points [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":11070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2186,68,84,23,444],"class_list":["post-16529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2023-formula-1-season","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-lando-norris"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}