Norris makes judgement on 2023 season: This is the year we needed

Lando Norris believes he had some of the "best races" of hisFormula 1 career during the 2023 season. The McLaren driver tookseven podiums on his way to finishing sixth in the Drivers'Championship, and scored the second largest points tally after thesummer break behind Max Verstappen. He now hold the joint recordwith Nick Heidfeld of having the most podiums in F1 without a winat 13. It has arguably been one of his most strong seasons,something Norris felt he could exploit after McLaren turned aroundtheir fortunes midway through the season. "Since the halfway pointof the season, I felt more confident and I feel like I've beengetting the most out of car, especially from a racing perspective,"he told media, including RacingNews365 . "I've just made a few toomany mistakes in qualifying, which I think have been obvious andI've acknowledged. But I definitely think I've had some of my bestraces I've ever done. "I believe that McLaren can continue turningthings around, this was the year that we needed and the team neededto prove those things." Norris: We didn't know how much we weregoing to improve McLaren endured a tough start to the season with adouble non-points finish at the two opening rounds in Bahrain andSaudi Arabia, while the team admitted that they missed theirpre-season targets. A major update at the Austrian Grand Prixenabled Norris to finish within the top five, while a strong finishfor both drivers at the British GP showed the extent of theirturnaround. Norris would go on to have five more second-placefinishes, while teammate Oscar Piastri took a second place in theBelgian GP Sprint race and at the Qatar GP. "The beginning wastough because I thought it was going to be for a whole year, wedidn't know how much we were going to improve. Especially the verybeginning," he said Norris. "Of course, we said we'll be a bitpatient and we've got some decent things coming. But in the pastfew years, when you've had decent things come in they've not alwaysstood up to be that much of an improvement. "This year was quitethe opposite and turned out to be almost a bigger improvement thanwe were expecting."