Lando Norris has said he is “not worried” about the prospect of not living up to expectations in the same way as Stoffel Vandoorne at McLaren.

Vandoorne was released by McLaren following a underwhelming 2018 campaign, although he was always going to be up against it with a very uncompetitive MCL33 car.

The Belgian was earmarked as one of the most exciting young drivers in Formula 1 and that same tag is now attached to 19-year-old Norris, but he is not paying too much attention to the larger picture just yet.

“It’s hard for me to say what it was about and why he couldn’t get his maximum performance,” Norris told Auto Motor und Sport.

“I just focus on myself. If Carlos beats me in the first race, I will analyse exactly where he was stronger.

“I have a whole season to learn and adapt. I’m not worried right now.”

As for McLaren’s road to recovery, Norris feels that the team are finally ready to head in the right direction but progress will be slow.

“You can feel what’s going on,” he added.

“I’ve been in the factory and have met a lot of people, and I think the foundation is right now.

“Everyone has confidence in each other and knows how to improve the car now.

“I know that’s what we said last year, but we’ve put a lot of work into understanding the car since then to identify the causes of the problems.

“At the same time it will not be a simple solution overnight. We certainly will not win races next year.”