Lando Norris has argued that the competitive advantage McLaren boasts in Formula 1 should not all be attributed to how the team’s 2025 car interacts with the tyres.
The pre-season anticipation that McLaren possessed the pacesetting package has been realised during the opening six rounds as it has won on all but one occasion.
But although the opposition has been able to rival the two MCL39 cars over a single lap, the Woking-based squad has proved near untouchable under race conditions.
This was exhibited last time out in Miami as, despite not grasping the lead until Lap 14, Oscar Piastri romped home with a 37-second gap to the closest non-McLaren.
Such an imperious showing has reignited the debate among rivals about the ingenious solution that McLaren has discovered to minimise overheating with the rubber.
However, Norris, who lags 15 points behind team-mate Piastri, has insisted that it would be incorrect to ascribe McLaren’s astounding pace on long runs to that alone.
Asked whether McLaren’s advantage might be easier to preserve as it isn’t solely related to outright speed, Norris told media including Motorsport Week ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: “It’s very difficult to know, to be honest.
“I mean, a lot of people talk about the tyres all the time, but it’s not just the tyres.
“There’s a lot of different things that we do well, including just the balance and how the car performs. I mean, all we have to do is keep focusing on our own job.
“We’ve not had any upgrades or many big improvements when other teams have, so we’re taking our time with stuff and making sure we do it our way, and I’m happy with that.
“But our clear advantage at the moment is on Sunday.
“But everyone gets close on Saturday, you know, there’s plenty of other midfield teams that catch up and occasionally loop very fast and then drop back on Sunday.
“So I think it’s just Formula 1 nowadays is getting very close.
“You can still see big differences with the closeness come Sunday, but, you know, we see Alpine up there, we see the AlphaTauri [Racing Bulls] up there at times.
“And, yeah, I think that makes for some unexpected competition sometimes on Saturday.
“But, yeah, we still know our good stuff is on Sunday, but we want to improve Saturdays, so we’re trying to work as hard as we can to make sure our Saturday performance increases.”
Norris seeking ideal McLaren compromise
But despite his desire to see McLaren unlock more speed over one lap, Norris has recognised it must not come at a compromise to the edge the team has in the race.
“We’ve seen since the beginning of the season that Red Bull are not far behind, Mercedes can be not far behind,” the Briton highlighted.
“Both teams have out-qualified us several times. They’re doing a good job.
“I think it’s clear we’re doing a better job at the end of the day, because all the points do not just come on a Saturday, which is where they’ve done a better job at times.
“But every race is important, and we know, yes, they have upgrades and they talk a lot.
“At the end of the day, we need to just do a good job on Sunday, and that’s where our focus is. So we keep focusing on ourselves and we’ll be fine.”
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