Lando Norris won his third victory of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix after the Netherlands and Miami. With his success at Marina Bay, the McLaren driver grabs a few more points in the title race and thus strengthens his status as a direct rival to the leader of the standings, Max Verstappen. He now sits 52 points behind the Red Bull driver, with just six races remaining in the season.
On the Singapore weekend, Norris mastered it from start to finish. He was the fastest in free practice on Friday, took pole position in qualifying on Saturday and crossed the finish line first with a twenty-second lead on Sunday, after leading all of the laps of the Grand Prix. Price.
“He did a fantastic job.”says Will Joseph, his race engineer. “I think from the first lap of the weekend we were on the pace, and Lando showed how fast he could be. He was very comfortable in the car from the start, and we felt “We built on that, we tried to make little adjustments to the car to make it faster. We made sure we finished the race in a good position. I think he was incredible.”
“I don’t think any of us expected the gap to be this big [avec le deuxième]. We passed the safety car window, then we passed the full stop window, the pace was phenomenal. Really. We always thought we were fast. But to pull such a gap with such ease to Max, who is a phenomenal driver in a phenomenal car, it was great.”
Lando Norris and Will Joseph on the podium in Zandvoort.
Photo de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Asked about the confidence that Singapore’s victory could give Norris, especially in the race for the world title, Will Joseph explained that it had in fact been developed from the Netherlands. The Briton himself indicated that his way of celebrating was very different from his first victory in Formula 1 in Miami, since his success at Zandvoort solidified, according to him, his chances of fighting for the world title.
“To be honest, I think we saw the signs [que Norris était devenu un sérieux prétendant au titre] after the Netherlands”continues the English engineer. “It was also a very good race [où Norris avait également terminé à plus de 20 secondes du deuxième]. I think the good thing about this weekend is that we were really strong where we didn’t necessarily expect to be the fastest, and we chased away some demons.”
“People can no longer say that [Norris ne peut] not exit the first turn [en tête]can’t finish the first round [en tête]. We led [la course] from start to finish, and we didn’t really make any missteps.”
We noticed that it’s actually not as bad as everyone tries to make it out to be.
It is true that this season, the English driver has been the target of much criticism for having missed several opportunities for victories due to missed starts. Before Zandvoort, Norris had never achieved a pole position in victory. McLaren recently indicated that it had analyzed all of Norris’s starts this season with a view to working on this aspect, ultimately finding no real need for improvement.
“We don’t really need to discuss this sort of thing.”said Will Joseph regarding the criticism leveled at Norris. “We talk about everything [avant la course]our strengths, how we rode on Friday, what opportunities there are, but we don’t need to discuss or dwell on things that others think are a problem, that we don’t necessarily see on our side.”
“At the factory we reviewed the race starts [de cette saison]and we did it thinking we were going to find something [sur quoi travailler]but we noticed that it’s actually not as bad as everyone tries to make it out to be. These are things that don’t need to be talked about. We are just doing our job. We are diligent, we discuss the things we can control. And the results are there.”
Lando Norris and his team at his first ever Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2019.
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Will Joseph has been Lando Norris’s engineer since his arrival in F1 in 2019, so he has witnessed the driver’s evolution since his debut. However, one thing is really different this season: the Briton has for the first time in his career the means to fight for victories, and even for a title.
Does he think that Norris has taken a new step in his driving? “It’s true”he replies. “I think over the years we’ve had to do different things, and the areas where we had to put our time and energy to grow have changed.”
“Today is about fine-tuning the details. It’s about things that aren’t just pure engineering. It’s about preparing ourselves properly for the week, the weekend, getting ourselves ready ensuring that we are well rested, that we discuss the right things at different times of the weekend So we change the way we work, we adapt to the situation we find ourselves in and the strengths that we have at the moment.
“Lando is doing his part, his effort. And I think we see that. Singapore can be a distraction. The time zone, the heat, it’s very busy. But Lando has made an effort and he’s proven that he could recover and come back prepared the next day, having reflected on what we had discussed the day before and what needed to be developed in the areas that we identified as opportunities for us. So yes, I think he did. [augmenté le niveau].”
As for the championship, Will Joseph reiterates his driver’s words. Although eyes are on a title that so many drivers dream of, the approach to the end of the season is done by focusing on one event at a time.
“Maybe you’re right [de penser aux chances de Norris de remporter le championnat du monde]but we don’t think of it that way.”he declared. “I think I’ve said it quite often, you have to take each day as it comes. The next challenge is Friday in Austin. It’s a sprint event. Then we have Saturday, then Sunday. You have to take each step as it comes.”
