Lando Norris has credited McLaren's new engine supplier Mercedes with helping the team to make progress after switching from Renault power units. The 2021 F1 season got off to a promising start for the Woking-based squad, with Norris achieving the second podium of his Formula 1 career at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Norris thinks that Mercedes - who previously had a long collaboration with McLaren between 1995 and 2014 - are contributing to the team's progression. "We went to Mercedes for a reason," Norris told the In The Fast Lane podcast. "Because we believe they're that little bit better, and they're helping us to move forwards. "We're not going to go to them just because of past years or anything like that. It's because we want to move forward and we believe that they're that little bit better." Despite the promising start to the relationship with Mercedes, Norris admits that the team are still working on certain areas that need improvement. "A lot of things are very similar [to driving with the Renault engine], but it is a little bit different," the Briton explained. "With the power delivery, with the feeling of it all, the sound. "There are all these little differences, some things better, some things maybe not quite as good as last year, but already improving a lot since the beginning of the season. There's always areas to improve." In terms of driving style and communication within the team, Norris says there are some key differences that arise from changing engine supplier. "Probably one of the biggest differences for us drivers is the technology side of things. The buttons we have on the steering wheel, how you communicate with your engineers, how you communicate with your Mercedes engineers. "A lot of that is very different to how Renault works. So it's not just a feeling that's different, but a lot of things in the pitlane, talking to your engineers, the names of the buttons you're changing, and things like that are all different too. "Even when you're in the car, there is a difference in feeling. It sounds a little bit different, but it's still an engine with eight gears that goes quite fast, and it's got a lot of power and so on."
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