McLaren’s 2023 pivot gives Norris confidence

In brief

McLaren’s 2023 pivot gives Norris confidence

Lando Norris, who just signed a contract extension with McLaren, says the team’s reversal of fortunes in 2023 – where they went from near the back of the grid to regular podiums, helped convince him he could fight for a title with them.

“I think the turnaround was a big part of it, of course,” Norris said.

“If we didn’t score podiums and we had as bad of a start as what we did last year, then of course there’s going to be even more questions. With how things went with what I believe we have coming and the confidence of having the whole team over the next few years – and going into a refresh which is ’26, where so many things change.

“Really, there’s not many other things that you can be guaranteed on or assured of with any team. So at that same time, it comes back to where I will be. Where will I be happiest? And now where am I most confident that I can actually achieve a world championship? If you asked me at the beginning of last year, maybe it wouldn’t have been McLaren. But now, I think I’m more confident than ever in saying it’s going to be McLaren.”

Daytona 24 ends in timing confusion

The Daytona 24 Hours ended in confusion when the chequered flag appeared to be shown too early.

The IMSA endurance race was won by the number seven Porsche Penske of Feipe Nasr, Josef Newgarden, Matt Campbell and Dane Campbell by just two seconds ahead of the number 31 Cadillac of Tom Blomqvist, Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani. However, the chequered flag was shown to the winners with over 90 seconds of race time still on the timer, leading to a controversial conclusion to the race.

Bilinski extends FROC lead

Roman Bilinski won a red flagged third race at Manfeild to move further ahead of Christian Mansell in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in New Zealand.

Mansell won the second race of the weekend but Bilinski made it four wins from the first six races of the championship to move 18 points ahead in the standings.

Links

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