Norris highlights "outstanding" McLaren achievement

Lando Norris has hailed the one aspect of McLaren's performance over the past year he feels was better than its nine F1 rivals.

McLaren had previously been under fire for its problematic pit stops which led to team principal Andreas Seidl highlighting it as an area for improvement.

A tightening of procedures resulted in McLaren becoming the only team to post a sub-two seconds stop across the entire year, with a time recorded of 1.98secs for Daniel Ricciardo in the Mexico City Grand Prix.

"The mechanics have done an outstanding job in the toughest year for pit stops with the heavier tyres and worse guns," said Norris.

“We’ve had the fastest pit stop this year, we’ve had multiple fastest pit stops across weekends."

McLaren set the fastest pit stop time at six of the 22 races, a total bettered only by Red Bull with 10.

Despite losing out to Alpine in the constructors' standings, McLaren ended the year on a high by outscoring its rival in the final race in Abu Dhabi, providing positive momentum to carry through the winter months.

“I think it’s just motivation, it’s energy for everyone," added Norris.

"To finish ahead of Alpine in terms of a result, if not the championship, you’re happier to be ahead of people and to have a good result. So everyone is smiling now because I think we’ve had a good season.

“Everyone at the track has done a good job - the mechanics, the engineers. We’ve pretty much maximised every opportunity we’ve had."