In Formula 1, every era has been dominated by one team. There always has been a team to beat, a team to aspire to. In the latest era of F1, that team is undoubtedly Red Bull. They’ve set the benchmark. Naturally, in a cutthroat sport like ours, accusations are slung on the fly. Any time a team makes even the remotest of gains, comparisons are made with the car leading the field. Recently, as McLaren‘s fortunes have been on the up, they are being dished with the same treatment. And Lando Norris has a confession to make.

The 2023 British Grand Prix was when the Woking-based team really showed their true colors. After a dismal start to the season, they stuck to their guns, pulled their socks up and delivered a strong package that propelled them towards the front of the pack. However, no sooner were the covers off of the revived MCL60, that people took their notebooks out to compare it with the all-dominant RB19.

Lando Norris admits to Red Bull influence

The biggest headline during that time was the comments of 7x champion, Lewis Hamilton. While talking about the MCL60, Hamilton was quoted as saying, “If you just put it alongside a Red Bull, it looks very, very similar down the sides. It’s working. It is great.”  Though at the time these accusations were rubbished by team principal, Andrea Stella, Norris has now come out with a statement of his own.

While Norris denies a copy-cat approach, he does admit that Red Bull were the point of reference. The Athletic quoted the 23-year-old as saying, “There’s more constant, small improvements coming from everywhere, which is, at the end of the day, what Red Bull are so good at now,” Norris said. “It’s not that they just have one thing that’s particularly good.”

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“Every single thing is there for a reason and there to help improve the car. That’s kind of what we’ve got to. We’ve started to really improve little things, and some of that came together, which delivered in one big thing.” 

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While McLaren have been tracking the Bulls for inspiration, Norris may have a different motive for keeping an eye on them. That being said, Max Verstappen has a few words of wisdom for the Brit.

Max Verstappen urges Norris’ loyalty

While Norris has been enjoying relative success in the very recent past with McLaren in 2023, he has admitted to the thought of ditching the Papaya team for greener pastures elsewhere. And the paddock chatter suggests that that place would most likely be Milton-Keynes.

However, before Norris pulls the trigger, Verstappen has reminded him a lesson or two about loyalty and gratefulness. Motorsport.com quoted the 2x champion as saying, “People sometimes say the grass is greener on the other side, but most of the time it’s not. And I think it’s very important to remember these kinds of things in situations like that. And you never forget who put you in F1 in the first place. You also have to be loyal to that, I find,” while addressing rumors of Norris ditching McLaren.

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