With expectations already very low, the Bahrain Grand Prix went worse than expected for McLaren. The team lost Oscar Piastri’s car after the opening 13 laps due to an electrical issue. With all hopes hanging with Lando Norris for the season opener, McLaren butchered the Brit’s race with six pit stops. To add insult to injury, the Brit had to retire his car two laps before completing all 57 laps. Despite the horrendous start to the 2023 season, Norris is moving past the season opener. We know that because of his light-hearted joke about the disastrous race.

Following the humiliating pre-season testing which limited Norris’s time on the track, the expectations were extremely low. Sadly for the papaya team, they did not outperform their expectations. However, the unusual amount of pit stops was due to an issue that the Brit believes will not persist in the future. This is exactly why while speaking to the media as quoted by Daily Mail Norris could joke about the six pit stops.

“The main thing was good pit stop practice for the mechanics,” Norris joked. “We just had an issue, if we get rid of the issue everything should be fine.”

The Brit was always clueless about the MCL60’s abilities and the team’s standing against the competition. The Bahrain GP proved McLaren is nowhere close to the competition.

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However, the Brit revealed if the issues are solved, the team will be back in contention for the midfield battle. Moreover, the Brit was happy with the MCL60’s state during the race in comparison to the pre-season testing state.

Lando Norris is happy with McLaren’s performance during the race despite the poor start

The Brit’s time on track was hampered because of the poor state of the MCL60. In fact, Norris uncharacteristically punched the wall on day 3 of testing. However, after the Bahrain race, the Brit is more optimistic about his chances in the coming races.

He revealed, “We obviously still believe we can still score points with the car we have which makes us more optimistic for the season.”

“It was a tenth and a half to [Lance] Stroll, who’s clearly much quicker – where I am is where I think we kind of are. I’m happy with it, I think a little bit better than maybe I was expecting from where we were in the test,” he added, revealing his satisfaction with the car’s current state.

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Maybe not in Saudi Arabian GP but McLaren will expect to be back in points by the Azerbaijan GP. Will the team achieve its target in Baku? Time will certainly reveal that.