F1 world champion Norris fears 'long, tough season' after fifth place at Australian GP

[p]The Briton was well off the pace all weekend as Mercedes and Ferrari dominated, having adapted more quickly to new rules around engines, chassis and aerodynamics.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]Norris[/a] has been critical of the regulation changes, claiming they are taking the sport backwards.[/p][p]But he was content with finishing fifth in Melbourne, given how far McLaren seemed to be behind their arch-rivals at the start of the season.[/p][p][b]"P5 is a good result, I think we maximised what we could achieve today," [/b]he said.[/p][p][b]"The gap to the guys ahead is pretty big, and we clearly have a lot of work to do, which we thought might be the case coming into this weekend."[/b][/p][embed guid="a94f00da-a2c9-430b-b72c-a6b19fb65ace" url="https://x.com/ln4norris/status/2030518348027408775?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Norris was encouraged by how he was able to hold off charging Red Bull ace [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a], who came sixth after [b]starting from 20th on the grid.[/b][/p][p][b]"The fact that we could defend against Max and keep him behind, even though he had a lot more pace, was positive," [/b]he said.[/p][p][b]"But we need to work hard to understand where we're losing pace to the front runners, as well as understanding how we can approach the weekend better.[/b][/p][p][b]"I've got full confidence in my team to be able to do that, but it's looking like it's going to be a long, tough season."[/b][/p][p]His teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piastri-oscar/MqKAIeUf/"]Oscar Piastri[/a] failed to start his home race after crashing out on a lead-up lap, and team chief Andrea Stella said it was important that Norris got in the points.[/p][p][b]"It was very important to finish it with Lando, to gather as much data and learning as possible under these new regulations," he said.[/b][/p][p][b]"Lando did a great job to adapt to various scenarios... however, we finished some distance behind the leaders, so it is clear we have work to do."[/b][/p]