McLaren atmosphere better than 2018 - Norris

Formula 1 rookie Lando Norris says that the atmosphere within McLaren has improved compared to last season when several key staff members left the team and Zak Brown was forced to admit that race wins could be "years away" amid pre-season promises once again falling short.

When asked by GPFans to describe the mood internally, Norris said that things were much better but still not perfect, adding that the team needs "a bit more time" before everyone is "working together in the correct way".

"I definitely think it is an improvement from last year," said Norris.

"Obviously I wasn't the driver last year so wasn't as integrated as what I am now but in terms of seeing the motivation from everyone, how they work as a whole group, as a family pretty much, it definitely seems to be going in the right direction.

First time hands on and 100 laps in the basket. We’re making the most of every mile and everyone’s doing an awesome job to get through the plan. Still plenty to do over the next few days ???? pic.twitter.com/8TGfaMW79C — Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) February 19, 2019

"It's not perfect but I think some of the problems that we have had or some of the niggles that we've had to overcome have been ironed out slowly so it's just trying to make sure everyone works in the right direction and in a positive way.

"It's still going to take a bit more time before I think everyone's working together and in the correct way but it's going in the right direction which is the main thing and I think everyone's very motivated and has been working extremely for this season."

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Ahead of his grand prix debut next month, Norris also praised his new teammate Carlos Sainz, hailing their relationship and suggesting that he is focused on learning from Sainz rather than beating him at this stage of the season.

"We've been getting along pretty well. It's quite different in Formula 1 because [in Sainz] I'm going up against a driver who I haven't really known," said Norris.

"The past few drivers [I've been teammates with] I've always been pretty good friends with and I've known since karting pretty much. Carlos is the first guy who was always quite a few steps ahead of me in terms of age and career.

"Whether I can beat him or not I don't think that's really the question for me at the moment. I think the next two weeks it's looking at data from yesterday, looking at data from tomorrow, looking about the performance runs, the longer runs and seeing where I can improve because I know there's a lot of things he's very good at.

"It's just trying to make sure I keep my positives and things I'm good at and trying to combine them with the things that he's good at so eventually I don't get beaten. There's a lot of things I need to learn from him and take from him which I can improve on."

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