Reliability will be the key to beating Alpine, says Norris

The 2022 season has been particularly challenging for McLaren, who struggled with an underperforming car in the early Grand Prix races. On the drivers’ side, the situation wasn’t shining either, as Lando Norris, much like his successful 2021 season, managed to achieve good results, but Daniel Ricciardo had trouble adapting to this new car, which was very different from the previous season’s. The only real highlight of the season so far was Lando Norris’ podium finish at Imola.

However, this was without taking into account the disastrous reliability of the Alpines, which helped the British team gather valuable points in the fight for 4th place in the world constructors’ championship. The double top 10 achieved by McLaren during the Mexican Grand Prix is proof of this. The Alpines displayed a superior pace to the English cars during the race, but Fernando Alonso’s retirement a few laps before the finish was beneficial for McLaren, allowing them to regain some points against the French team.

Lando Norris declared to the media: “Not everything is about performance in Formula 1.”

And even when we lack a little bit, I believe we do a very good job in all the other areas, namely reliability, which is one of the most important areas.

The return of McLaren to the battle with Alpine delighted the young British driver, who sees it as an extra motivation for the end of the season.

This makes me happier that we are closing the gap, but we are working hard, so I feel like we deserve to get what we have.

This means that we still have to work extremely hard to beat them in the next two races.

« We will take advantage of a few days off, then I will be at the factory all week, so I will make sure that we are ready for the next races. »