Norris is "currently flying" at McLaren

 

McLaren boss Andreas Saddle praised Leno Norris after the Imola podium, saying the young Brit was "flying at the moment".

When Daniel Ricardo, through Carlos Sons, filled the vacant McLaren seat for 2021, few gave Norris a chance against the seven-time race winner who has been campaigning for the World Championships with the Viking organization Wanted to understand

But, the first two races of the 2021 campaign are strongly related to Norse.

The 21-year-old started his season with P4 in Bahrain, and Emilia Romagna made a sensational debut for the compass at the Grand Prix. Its best Q3 time for the next row seemed quite good, but it was later dropped due to excessive violations.

Disappointed with the mistake, Norris refused the race day and ended the second podium of his career with P3, defending P2 in several laps against Mercedes' Sir Lewis Hamilton. Norris also picked the Driver of the Day award.

And those great opening performances made a strong impression on the McLaren bass saddle.

"Lando is flying right now, he's definitely taken the next step as a driver," Saddle told SkyF1.

"Already in Bahrain, you can see that he has definitely taken the next step as a person. He digested last season with his engineering team.

"It's also common for these young people to take a step, they have to make it in the first few years or they will never be able to make it up, but it's great how he's pulling it off.

"They are confident they can hug me and what they did today was great."

Stand out from the crowd with McLaren Mall through the Formula 1 official store

With the exception of Q3, Norris said his morale was "very good" over the weekend as he brought McLaren so close that he has been on the prominence for many years.

"It's good to fight these guys. There's joy on merit and there's pure speed, and hopefully we'll have something more in the future.

"I think apart from Q3 (the last stage of qualifying) it was a perfect weekend."

The next Formula 1 season is the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao for 3 goals. Hamilton claimed victory for Mercedes here last season, while Norris will be looking for a first-place finish in Portugal.