After winning the last two races in a row, Lando Norris has put himself back in the fight for the championship.

Norris currently sits fourth on the grid, with an 83-point gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli. With eleven races left in the season, it’s a question on if Norris can fight his way back up to win it all again.

To win the championship, not only will the Briton need to keep himself on the podium steps, but he will need help from Ferrari, Max Verstappen and teammate Oscar Piastri to take points away from the Italian driver.

Lando’s confidence within the team

When talking to The Athletic, Norris said that “at the minute, I don’t have the car I need to fight for the championship.” Even with the new upgrades the MCL40 has seen, Lando still has some doubts about the car. One thing that has helped from these upgrades is the focus on balance. Having an upgraded balance has instilled the Papaya drivers with confidence.

This confidence puts Norris, in particular, at an advantage. When the season started, he had no pressure on him. McLaren did not have the fastest car; therefore, talk of Lando reclaiming his crown was not in question.

Lando told Formula One reporters that his “biggest factor” to put himself back in the fight was being a part of the McLaren team,

“The people we have, what we’ve achieved over the last few years and the leadership we have within the team.”

Andrea Stella stated that Norris is very good with low-grip situations. Confidence shows results. As for Piastri, it may just be the factor of not being as confident as his teammate in those types of conditions.

Lando has admitted to taking higher risks during qualifying, which carved out some time. When talking to reporters, Stella expressed how he feels Lando has grown as a driver since winning the championship title last season;

“He is expressing a higher level of assertiveness,” telling reporters, “He’s demonstrating more confidence.” The McLaren team principal continued later on with, “It’s almost like I see Lando getting stronger and stronger race by race.” Afterward, touching on Lando’s accomplishment of getting the most out of the hard compound tire.

Troubles at Mercedes

Mercedes is currently at a disadvantage. Toto Wolff told reporters that Mercedes does not have the money to make upgrades to their car as their rivals have. Making them a bit more vulnerable. Along with comments from both Mercedes drivers, showing a bit of doubt in their car. Russell called McLaren the “team to beat,” with Antonelli expressing that he no longer believes they have the fastest car.

When all is said and done, we cannot predict how the remainder of the season will go. One thing we do know: Lando Norris is taking it one race at a time.