Lando Norris may have an easier path to picking up big points this year in Mexico than last season, but Andrea Stella has urged him to “replicate” 2023’s pace.

Last season Norris had a miserable qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, as car problems, driver error and ultimately a yellow flag dropped him to 17th place.

Lando Norris asked to ‘replicate’ his performance at the 2023 Mexican GP

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Promising to “bounce back” at the Grand Prix, the McLaren driver produced an epic effort to move up 12 places as he fought his way to 5th.

This season, scoring big points, or even a podium, should be an easier quest as he will line up third on the grid behind Carlos Sainz, pole sitter and Max Verstappen.

But his crew chief still wants him to drive the car like he did last season.

“That’s the mission, to replicate what we were able to do last year with Lando scoring a good number of points,” he said. Sky F1.

“I think the car, in terms of race pace, has always been pretty competitive here, based on what we’ve seen on the long runs. Again, this seems competitive. So we have the conditions to do it, so we have to get back into the points.

Norris is currently 57 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, but it could be Ferrari that proves to be the biggest obstacle in Mexico as the Scuderia looks to continue its US GP double with another victory.

Stella believes that this weekend McLaren should be closer to them in terms of race pace.

“I think looking at Austin, Ferrari was a little bit ahead in the sprint, a little less in the race,” he said. “I think during the race we couldn’t really see Lando’s pace because we lost positions at the start.

“Overall, I would say our car seems closer to Ferrari this weekend, so I hope we can fight for victory, and we must not forget that Max is there too.”

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But is Ferrari now McLaren’s “most dangerous opponent”?

This question was asked of Stella during her post-qualification debriefing with the media, including PlanèteF1.com.

“As McLaren we are focused on ourselves,” he replied. “We do not have a particular competitor that we are primarily focused on.

“And for us it has been clear for a long time that Ferrari is a very credible contender for the championship.

“This became even clearer after the upgrade they made in Italy at Monza and if we look at Baku. I think they had the fastest car in Singapore, but they fell out of contention for victory in qualifying.

“But looking at the general pace, I think Ferrari have been the most competitive car recently, so it’s no surprise that they are in contention in the quest for the championship, and we are focusing on ourselves and obviously on monitoring all our competitors.

“But for us, we have no particular interest in considering Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari. For us, they are all the same.

McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari start the Mexican GP separated by only 48 points in the general classification. Manufacturers’ Championship where McLaren leads by 40 ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari a further eight behind with 250 points still at stake.

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