Jenson Button on Lando Norris: You need to be in a winning car

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Lando Norris decided to extend his contract with McLaren. Jenson Button is still surprised by Norris' decision, considering that he believes that McLaren is not a good basis for Norris to achieve his goals. In order for Norris to compete with his rivals in an F1 race, Button believes that he deserves a better car with which he can compete.

"I was surprised when he signed a long-term deal,” Button told Sky, as quoted by crash.net. “In this sport you don’t know who’s at the front. You need to be in a winning car. Your talent is not enough to bring a car to the front.

You can help them develop. But you need to be in a competitive car that can win races. McLaren haven’t given him that. They are doing well, but at this point in his career he needs to be in a winning car."

Button on Lando Norris

Button still hopes that there will be changes in the coming seasons.

The budget cap has just brought such changes with the aim that even smaller teams can compete with the 'big ones' We could see the consequences of such decisions in the near future. Big things are expected from Norris. He is still young, so patience will be necessary for everyone.

“I really hope teams like McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin are closer to the top three, and even challenging. That was the whole idea with the budget cap and the wind tunnel time. Hopefully we start seeing benefits from that in 2023, and in 2024 I think we’ll see it even more so.

He’s got time on his side, Lando. Very quick. New teammate in Oscar Piastri who again is very talented." It puts a lot of pressure on both of them, with Piastri coming straight into F1 and jumping straight into a relatively competitive car”.