McLaren have become one of the most improved F1 teams in recent times. From scraping to get results in the lower midfield positions, the Carlos Sainz-Lando Norris partnership guided the team to third in the 2020 Constructors’ standings.

Naturally, the results stem from the fact that Sainz and Norris had a solid understanding with one another. They were fierce competitors on the track, but certainly became good friends off of it.

Speaking in an interview, Norris talked about what made their relationship at McLaren stick. He revealed that working well together saw them build the ‘perfect combination.’

Carlos Sainz and I wanted to move McLaren forward, says Lando Norris

Norris stated, “We ended up being good mates away from the race track, but also fierce and tough competitors against each other, but also good team-mates.”

“We wanted to move the team forward, we wanted to win races and we worked well in that harmony, but we were also very competitive against each other.”

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Both Sainz and Norris often shored up McLaren’s strategy in the races by holding off their rivals in the midfield. As a result, the strength of their understanding reflected in the eventual results as well.

“We just worked very well in both of these aspects, as team-mates, but also as competitors. I think we had the perfect combination of both of them,” concluded Norris on the topic.

The ‘CarLando’ pairing yielded good dividends for the team in the 2020 season

McLaren marked a solid start to the 2020 F1 campaign, courtesy of Norris’ P3 podium in Austria. Sainz was not one to be left behind and followed that up with a podium in Monza himself.

Together, the pair worked to give McLaren valuable top-10 finishes over the course of the season. Sometimes, they had to battle against each other to give the team the best possible result in the races.

However, sportsmanship became the code of the pair, and they never let each other damage their respective performances. Truly, the Norris-Sainz partnership at McLaren is one that all F1 enthusiasts will remember and cherish.