Andreas Seidl believes that McLaren driver Lando Norris has “made the next step” after he secured an impressive fourth place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Starting seventh on the grid, Norris was aggressive in the early stages passing his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and threatening the back of Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes.
He then showed excellent race pace to ensure Sergio Perez had no chance of pipping him to fourth place after the Red Bull driver recovered from the back of the grid to fifth.
Beating Ricciardo in race trim is a fine way to start the new season, in addition to a P4, and Seidl explained that Norris impressed with his ability to “control” the race.
“I think we have seen all weekend, especially in qualifying and the race, that Lando made the next step,” the McLaren team principal said.
“It’s something we ought to expect from a young driver, especially in his first years, to make these steps because that’s how you become a top guy in this sport.
“It was great to see how he pulled it off because it really was a very controlled race from his side.
“He pushed when he had to push and he controlled the race when he was in a position to control it.”
Norris’ long-run consistency appears to be an area where he has shown significant improvement since his debut in 2019 and Seidl credited the 21-year-old’s work within the team as a reason behind that progression.
“If I look at the way he works together with his engineers, how he communicates during a practice session, during qualifying, during the race, under stress, you simply see he was building up the experience and the confidence over the last two years,” he added.
“Now he implements again everything digested over winter and he has learned from himself, and that results in the lap times and the performance in the race.
“I think tyre management today, he did a sensational job, he would push when it was needed. He was fully under control and that was obviously great to see.”