"They like the taste of success" - Lando Norris confident of leapfrogging Ferrari F1 in WCC

Lando Norris feels it is possible for McLaren to overtake Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship despite the large gap between them with five races to go in the 2023 season.

McLaren has been performing exceedingly well in the past couple of races, scoring more points than any other team in the last three races. This has brought them close enough to take over fourth place in the standings from Aston Martin, reaching where they finished last year.

But Lando Norris is not completely satisfied with that as he can see them getting to third place, leaving Ferrari behind. Last Words On Sports quoted him as he showed confidence to take that place in the Championship standings:

"It’s doable. I think so. A couple of races ago it was, 70-something [points] to Aston. I don’t know what it is now? Seventeen? I mean, Fernando said we were overconfident as well!"

There was rather a large gap between Aston Martin and McLaren earlier, however, as Jessica Hawkins previously mentioned, the latter can easily take that place. Lando Norris also stated that the team has worked on the pace, mentioning the fastest pit stop record they achieved in Qatar (1.8 seconds).

"I think we’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’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," the 23-year-old said.

---

Lando Norris feels Ferrari are looking a 'bit worse'

The McLaren driver had a hint of success during the Singapore Grand Prix earlier, where he finished less than a second behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

So far, this has been the only race in the entire season where a Red Bull driver has not won. Comparing the Italian outfit's pace in that race to now, he stated that while Ferrari have got better; they have got a little worse on pace.

"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’s just a different track," he said. (Quotes via Last Words On Sports)

"We’re looking better, they’re looking a bit worse. I think we’re definitely not overconfident. We’re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there’s still going to be some races where we’re not going to be quite as strong," he added.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made it to the podium in the race in Qatar, joining Max Verstappen while Charles Leclerc dropped down to P5. That was the only Ferrari that took place in the race, as there was a fuel issue in Sainz's car.

It is apparent that McLaren are closing up the gap to third place with Ferrari, but there is still a 79-point gap between the two. Meanwhile, the latter are trying to achieve second place in the WCC with a 28-point gap between them and Mercedes.