"I can't drive the wheels off"- McLaren's Lando Norris confident of doing a 'better job' on race day if provided with the 'same car' as qualifying

Lando Norris has been quietly impressive once again this season and the results show that as well. Despite driving a McLaren that is clearly not in the front-running group, Lando Norris has still been able to score a podium in the 2022 season. However, while giving himself some credit for the laps he's pulled off in qualifying, the Briton also feels having the right car is the most important thing. Speaking to the media, Norris said:

“I feel like I’m doing a good job as well. I’ve got to give myself a little bit of credit. My lap [in France] was genuinely a very, very good lap. But I also need the car on that day to be able to do that job. I can’t drive the wheels off, I’m just doing what the car is capable of doing.’’

While Norris is able to qualify well, his pace drops off in the race. The McLaren driver admitted that the car just did not feel the same on Sunday. The British driver pointed out that this was one thing that needed to be worked on by the team. He said:

“When it comes to Sunday, you feel like you don’t have necessarily the same car. We’re still trying to understand all of that, and know why exactly we’re able to do a better job on the Saturday than we can on the Sunday. When you get to the point of actually competing with the top-runners in qualifying, we also can’t just rely that we’re suddenly quick in the race. [These are] the sort of things you’ve got to improve on.’’

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Lando Norris: We are overachieving a bit right now

When questioned if Lando Norris' podium at Imola and some of his other spectacular qualifying performances were a sign of his team overachieving as compared to the potential of its machinery, the driver was a bit hesitant but conceded that there was certainly an element of that. He said:

“A little bit, yeah. I hate the saying of overachieving, because I think you just achieve what is possible on the day. The field is always tighter on a Saturday than it is on a Sunday. It’s the same probably for every single person. You see Mercedes struggled [in France] on a Saturday, and they’re like, 'Oh, what's happened? Second and third [in the race]?' I wish we had that problem!’’

Pointing out the difference between these new generation cars, Lando Norris pointed out that there is some divergence in performance that does get exaggerated with the change in conditions. He said:

“The cars just perform differently, and it’s obvious that – maybe a bit more than the last few years – people seem to perform differently on different days, and seem sensitive to wind conditions and stuff like that on different time’’

Lando Norris has been by far the shining light at McLaren this season while teammate Daniel Ricciardo has struggled massively.