Mercedes and Red Bull comfortably finished first and second in this year’s standings, while the Woking and Maranello teams have made significant strides.
McLaren scored a double at Monza, Ferrari collected five podiums and two Poles in 2021, taking third place in the championship at the last race of the season with 47.5 points over their English rivals, with whom they have the ambitions to return to the summit in the future.
“I would say this fight helped a bit in that respect,” Norris told Motorsport.com of the battle against Ferrari.
“Just having that mentality, they keep us on our toes, they make us push, always trying to find that little bit more in the lap times.”
“Sometimes it is easy to feel complacent and not think about it, especially if you are tertiary alone, with no one in front or behind you”.
“There are so many ways to fall into the trap, so I think it’s been good for us. Same for them, who haven’t had an easy year. I think we’ve both benefited.”
Norris also believes McLaren fared better despite finishing fourth, scoring 275 points up from 202 in 2020.
“I would say it has been a difficult season, but I also think it is much better than last year”.
“We are closer to those who fight for the top and the gap with the rest of the group is much wider, apart from Ferrari. It has been a very good season, not only in terms of results and points, but also in terms of how we have worked together as a team and how we maximized things. “
“I think we are in better shape for next year, when we will fight them more often; we also hope to be able to do it against those in front, at least a little more often.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Both McLaren and Ferrari hope to take advantage of the new technical regulations in 2022 to take another step forward that would allow them to fight against the leading teams.
Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies agreed that the fight with McLaren helped the team work by focusing on its stuff.
“We focused on how we could use this year to become better and to grow as a team by developing our things,” says the Frenchman.
“McLaren are a great team to fight against. They had some fantastic moments, they won Monza, they could have done it in Sochi too. They are very competitive and in an optimal situation.”
“So it was a good challenge, where you had to make fewer mistakes than them. You always have to put the small details together if you want to beat them.”
“In the end it is the same thing that is happening for the first two positions, same dynamic. The loss of points costs you the same, and therefore, it was good. Good training for us in view of 2022”.
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