‘At a time when it should be more difficult to dominate, we’ve done it’ – Norris

Lando Norris said McLaren’s dominant constructors’ championship victory is even more remarkable because Formula 1’s rules are so restrictive.

The team clinched its second consecutive constructors’ championship in the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend.

“Another one is just a great thing,” said Norris. “Another constructors’ feels the same as the first because to get the first was quite an achievement if you look at where we were just three years ago.”

Norris has been with the team since his F1 debut in 2019. The team initially struggled when the series introduced its current aerodynamic regulations in 2022. However the team began to make strides the following year.

He said the progress had been difficult due to the Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions, which were introduced in 2021, limiting how much teams [can] develop. However he said the budget cap, which also arrived in the same year, likely helped McLaren as rival teams were spending more.

“We’ve overtaken every team in terms of development,” said Norris. “We’ve outdone them by a long way in terms of development and in a time when it’s almost harder to do than ever.

“[There’s] more restrictions, less wind tunnel time, all of those different things. The budget cap, that’s probably been more in our favour over the last five years compared to the budget that the other teams could run at.

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“But in a time when it should be more difficult than ever to dominate, that’s exactly what the team has done and given us, by a long way, the best car on the grid. That’s always a very nice thing to say. Every driver that gets to say that, it always puts a smile on your face.”

Norris said McLaren bosses Zak Brown and Andrea Stella also deserve credit for allowing him and team mate Oscar Piastri to push each other as hard as they do.

“We’ve also done very well as a team in terms of drivers, between Oscar and myself pushing each other and delivering every single weekend,” he said. “You don’t see that in any other team. I think we’re also very proud of that as drivers.

“For me, I’ve been with McLaren since I started. It was a very different time and place then to where we are now.

“So that journey makes it more special — to know the downs, because that’s a lot of what it was back then — to see the rise we’ve had, to see the teamwork, the changes, the atmosphere difference, and the leadership from Zak and Andrea especially, has turned things around and made us the best team in the world. That’s something not many people ever get to say.”

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