Andreas Seidl believes Lando Norris’ impressive per𒉰ꦺformance at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix shows he’s made the “next step” as a Formula 1 driver.

Norris finished fourth at the Bahrain International Circuit, beating Red Bull’s Sergio Perez - who was forced to start from the pit lane after anౠ electrical issue on the formation lap - and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by an impressive 20-second margin.

Embarking on🥂 his third year in F1, Seidl says Norris has learnt a lot from his previous two season💧s with McLaren.

“I think we simply have seen all weekend, especially in qualifying and the race, that Lando made the next step,” Seidl said after the Bahrain Grand Prix. “It's some♔thing we ought to expect from a young driver, especially in his first years to make these steps because that’s how you become a top guy in this sport.

“You coulꩲd see already over the winter he made the next step in terms of personality, in terms of how you approach this season also.ꦓ Again, digesting everything he has seen, done and learned during last season.

“Simply, it was g🤡reat to see how he pulled it off because it really was a very controlled race from his side. He pushed when he had to push and he controlled the race when he was in a position to control it. In the end it was good to see we had the third-best car.”

Seidl noted how Norris ꦗhas improved his communication with his engineers.

“If I look at the way he works together with his engineers, how he communicates during a practice session, during qua꧃lifying, during the race, under stress, you simply see he was building up the experience and the confidence over the last two years,” Seidl a💝dded.

“Now he implements again e🍸verything digested over winter and he has learned from himself, and that results in the lap times and the performance in the race.

“I think tyre management, he did a sensational job, he would push when it was needed because we didn’t know how it would end up with Perez, how much he had left towards the end of the race but it was fully under control from Lando and that 🎉was obviously great to see.”