It was harder for Norris to shine quite so brightly this year compared to his star turn in 2021. McLaren took a backwards step and the obvious Daniel Ricciardo malaise meant beating the Australian became an expectation. For his own part, Norris concedes that his adaption to ground-effects really was too slow.
Nevertheless, he was the only non-Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes driver to notch a podium all year, which he did with a sterling weekend at a greasy Emilia Romagna GP. That headline result shouldn’t outshine what was almost always a high operating level and immense consistency.
