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Cape Town - McLaren’s Lando Norris admitted that he was concerned about whether or not he was quick enough for Formula 1 at the start of the 2019 campaign.
After finishing as runner-up to George Russell in the 2018 F2 Championship both drivers got the call to come to F1 – Russell would head for Williams while Norris partnered Carlos Sainz at McLaren.
But it’s been a fantastic rookie year for the 20-year-old who won the qualifying head-to-head against Sainz, while his 49 points helped McLaren to P4 in the Constructors’ Championship – he of course had his fair share of bad luck along the way too such as his retirement from P5 on the last lap in Belgium.
Asked about his doubts heading into 2019, Norris is quoted by Crash.net as having said: “If I was going to be good enough, as simple as that.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be quick enough going up against a driver whose done four years in F1 in McLaren and just in F1 against so many good drivers, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do a good enough job every time. “I just didn’t believe in myself much but already after Australia and Bahrain, I already gained a lot of confidence. It was simply not knowing if I was going to be able to keep up.”
“I think I can be very happy from how the whole season has gone from myself and from the team,” he added.“Coming into the season, I wasn’t very confident with how I was going to do, so I’m happy I kind of proved myself wrong and have done a good job and been able to give myself more confidence and improved as a driver.”
