Lando Norris has insisted that he believes he remains the best driver in Formula 1 “at the minute”, despite losing the points lead to McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris lamented a qualifying crash denting his chances in Saudi Arabia last weekend as he recovered from 10th on the grid to fourth, leaving Piastri to take the spoils.
Having delivered McLaren an elusive Constructors’ Championship at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Norris vowed he would claim the ultimate prize this season.
But while he began the ongoing campaign on top again in Australia, the Briton hasn’t triumphed since then as he has struggled to gel with McLaren’s MCL39 machine.
Norris banked successive second-place results in China and Japan, but mistakes in qualifying at the past two events have consigned him to damage limitation drives.
Meanwhile, Piastri has capitalised on his team-mate’s troubles to earn consecutive victories in Bahrain and Jeddah that have propelled him into a 10-point advantage.
However, Norris harbours no doubt that he remains the stronger of the McLaren duo in race trim and expects that to shine through once he resolves his one-lap woes.
“I’m not surprised because of all the mistakes I’ve made over the last few Saturdays,” Norris conceded.
“My Sundays, I think I’m pretty happy with – they’ve been pretty strong. All of my Sundays, the pace has been good.
“I have the confidence that the pace is there, and I feel like I’m the best at the minute, but I make my life too tough on Saturday.
“I’m making myself work for it; it makes my Sundays a little bit more fun at times.
“I gotta work on my Saturdays, and if I can work on my Saturdays, I’m confident I can get back to where I was.”
Piastri’s response to championship lead
Meanwhile, Piastri has expressed that his newfound position heading the Drivers’ Championship will not have a bearing on his mindset going into each race weekend.
Asked whether his approach will change now he is the one being chased down, the Australian replied: “No, I think I still want to go out and try and win every race I can.
“As I was saying before, I think I’m not that bothered by the fact that I’m leading the championship.
“But I’m proud of the work and the reasons behind why we’re leading the championship.
“I think obviously Melbourne wasn’t a great start to the year in terms of results, but from the moment I’ve hit the track this season, I felt like I’ve been in a good place and
I think at the moment leading the championship is a result of all the hard work we’ve done in the off-season, the hard work I’ve done personally, the hard work the team’s done.
“So I’m more proud of all of those things than I am of the fact that I’m leading the championship because ultimately I want to be leading it after round 24 and not round five.”
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