Lando Norris says that he aims to bring the momentum built up by the McLaren F1 Team‘s first points of the 2019 Formula 1 season into the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
Rookie Norris opened McLaren’s account for the year with a strong drive to sixth place in Bahrain, scoring the first points of his F1 career.
Norris’s result equalled the sixth place scored by Jenson Button at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix, also the 2009 champion’s second F1 race.
Alongside the season-opening race in Australia, China marks a new circuit for Norris – but the 19-year-old says that he has had ample practice in the simulator building up to the weekend.
“Another race and another new circuit,” said Norris.
“I’m looking forward to trying out the Shanghai track for the first time, I’ve done plenty of practice in the sim so now I’m excited to drive it for real.
“Last weekend went well for us in Bahrain, I’m going to try and carry that momentum forward to the Chinese Grand Prix.
“From what I’ve seen this looks to be a fun track, so hopefully we will see some more racing and overtaking.”
McLaren has been caught unawares by its strong race pace in 2019, with Norris saying that the team initially thought it was going to be better in qualifying-spec.
Norris’s team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. has had two promising performances ended by reliability and contact when on course for potential points finishes.
2019 FIA Formula 2 championship runner-up Norris has made it into the top 10 shootout in qualifying on both occasions this season, and hopes that the 1000th Grand Prix – one that will be marked by a commemorative helmet design – will bring more of the same.
“I have a one-off helmet design for China to celebrate the 1,000th grand prix race,” he added.
“It’s really exciting to be taking part in this special occasion on only my third F1 entry.”
