With 69 points in 4 races, McLaren has left Mercedes and Aston Martin behind in the constructors’ championship. Fresh off of new contract renewals, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are extracting the maximum out of Team Principal Andrea Stella’s beautiful creation – the MCL38. The Japanese GP was a classic example of why Norris is considered world-champion material. But according to Stella, the Chinese GP this week is going to be a nightmare for them.

After Qualifying in a stellar P3 at Suzuka, Norris did his best to fight the much-quicker Ferraris but ended up in P5. Nonetheless, his relentless attack and defense highlighted his top caliber. While he and McLaren were well aware of the Japanese GP track, the same cannot be said about China. The Chinese GP returns to F1 after 5 years, and that too with only 1 practice session. Team Boss Andrea Stella, in his preview statement for the race at Shanghai, wasn’t optimistic.

“I have to say that in this first part of the season, China is the track that worries me the most in terms of competitiveness,” Stella said, as quoted by Motorsport-Total. “You have so many slow corners, hairpins. Also in Turn 2, Turn 3 you spend a lot of time in these long corners. This is a topic that I bring up again and again. So far, we haven’t been able to improve the car enough in these slow, medium-speed long corners.”

“So, in terms of competitiveness, I would expect a more difficult situation than in Suzuka, Australia, and the first part of the season,” the McLaren team boss notes. “China could be a bit of damage limitation for us.”

McLaren has made the biggest stride compared to their horrific 2023 beginning. Yet, they are far from their goal. This lack of pace compared to the Red Bulls is very evident in Lando Norris’ words.

Lando Norris expresses frustration with Max Verstappen’s dominance

Norris has been vocally appreciative of Max Verstappen several times. But not being able to fight the Red Bull racer on-track amplifies his inner critical voice. The 2023 Brazilian GP was a classic example – Norris who initially got the lead of the race had to just move aside when Verstappen tried to overtake him. The Briton knew he had no chance of defending against the Dutchman and his mighty RB19. That frustration still shines through when he speaks about Verstappen.

“I am not afraid in any way of Max, I’m excited to be against Max,” said Norris. “People rate him as up with the best, so I would like to prove myself by going up against that. I look forward to being able to battle him, but genuinely for position and not have him half a second a lap quicker and just drive past me.”

As of now, Norris doesn’t have the facilities to win a race unless the Red Bulls take each other out. But in China, if he ensures a perfect practice session, he could edge McLaren towards better data collection and a Top 5 finish.