Lando Norris has admitted that he is more confident than ever heading into the 2024 Formula 1 season with McLaren.
Despite an awful start to the year for Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri, McLaren turned their season around in style to finish as arguably the closest challengers to Red Bull.
A raft of impressive mid-season upgrades saw them propel up the order, regularly challenging for podiums in a very fast MCL60.
And the young Briton is all too aware just how impressive a season they could have had if they would have had a better start.
But rather than dwell on the past, Norris is eyeing up McLaren's chances in 2024, adamant that the team is in the best shape possible going into next year.
Norris: 2024 could be great for McLaren
"I hate ever being confident or overconfident about things, I'm never that kind of guy," he told Sky Sports when asked if McLaren are set for a big year in 2024.
"But I think so, because of what we have. We have a lot more things in place, of course we've got a few new guys who are starting as well, coming from other teams.
"But now we're in the strongest place we've been for probably the last 10 years, I feel like we've got more things to look forward to next year - we've finally got the wind tunnel properly going and so many things which are coming together more than ever.
"If there's ever a time in my life, over the last five years, I want to be a bit more confident, it's probably going into 2024.
"Because we just need to start the season off well. This year we started off terribly and we've still ended up being very, very strong. So if we can start the season a little bit strong, at least, then I think it can be a great year."