McLaren make key Lando Norris statement: 'The answer is yes'

Today at 02:20 AM

Lando Norris now has everything in his arsenal to become an F1 world champion this season. That is the verdict of the man who has been by his side every step of the way since Norris embarked on a pre-season test ahead of his rookie campaign in 2019, McLaren race engineer Will Joseph. It has been a long road for Norris to finally be in a position to mount a serious challenge. Although in contention last year, the gap Max Verstappen constructed early in the campaign was ultimately too far for the Briton to bridge. This year, however, Norris was handed the favourite tag to dethrone Verstappen. Following a strong start to the campaign with a win in the season-opening race in Australia, several mistakes have allowed team-mate Oscar Piastri to edge ahead. Going into this weekend's race in Miami, Piastri has a 10-point cushion over Norris after winning three of four grands prix since his home race in Melbourne, with Verstappen a further two points back. At this stage, and with another 19 races remaining, it is too close to call as to who will emerge on top. Naturally, Joseph sees Norris not wanting in any department if he is to finally climb F1's summit. Asked whether he felt Norris had it all to succeed, speaking to RacingNews365 , Joseph said: "I think the answer is yes. Every driver is on a constant curve of improvement. We're on that curve, and we're now very high up it. "I guess we're sort of on the diminishing rate of returns, but there are always things that we can do better, whether that be in his driving, which changes. The track is never in the same condition twice. "There are always possibilities in the driving, whether that be in how we use this information to set up the car, whether that be how we communicate the strategy or the race conditions. There are always areas for improvement. "But I think he's demonstrated he has the ability to be a world champion. It's all about putting it together, and everything has to align." Joseph - 'A lot has changed' at McLaren Joseph is now in his 20th season with McLaren after starting out with the team in 2006 as an intern, a week after he had graduated with a degree in aerothermal and aerospace engineering. In 2008, when McLaren won the drivers' title with Lewis Hamilton, Joseph was not part of the trackside or factory operations on a race day, and he can recall celebrating that championship in a pub in Guildford. Joseph concedes that "things have changed a lot since then", not least the slump that followed for the team before finally emerging again as constructors' champion last year for the first time in 26 years. After switching to trackside in 2010, Joseph said: "When you're trackside, you kind of get a potentially slightly different viewpoint of it because you're out at the coalface, but we're always just trying to do the best with the car that we have, and trying to perform as well as we can. "The era we're currently in is fantastically exciting. It feels, I guess, like a reward for the hard work we've put in over those many years. But it's not to say that we've worked... "I mean, I think we have worked harder recently because we've spotted areas where we can make certain improvements and work harder to get to where we are. It's, it's a very exciting and fun era of McLaren to be in."