2 weeks Ago
Following a qualifying crash and a P4 finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Norris, who relinquished the championship lead to Piastri, expressed doubts about McLaren's status as the grid's fastest team. "No, it's not surprising," he said when asked if Red Bull 's pace caught him off guard. "They (Red Bull) are just as fast as us in qualifying and in the race too," the Briton remarked, despite Piastri's victory in Jeddah securing the points lead.
Norris dismissed the hype surrounding McLaren's pace, putting it down to misleading practice gaps. "Just because we are fast in practice, people are saying all kinds of nonsense," he said. "Let them say what they want.
We don't believe that we have much of an advantage. I actually think Max (Verstappen) would have been the fastest in the race if he hadn't had that penalty. People keep saying we are the best, we are the fastest, blah blah blah.
But that is only because we show a bit more pace in practice—and then it's over in qualifying. That's our way of doing things. That's how we believe we optimise things.
If we didn't do it that way, we'd be even further behind." Reflecting on Jeddah, Norris vowed to address his own errors while highlighting areas for McLaren to improve. "We suffer on a track like this," he said.
"We suffer with DRS compared to the other teams. We're not fast enough on the straights." When asked about Norris' assessment, championship leader Piastri offered a contrasting perspective with a smile.
"No," the ice-cool Australian replied when questioned on whether he agreed with his teammate. "I think our car is still quicker. Max was quicker than I expected for sure, and clearly we've got some work to do, but I think our car is still very good.
I think we still have an advantage. I don't think it's as big on surfaces like this and layouts like this, but we still have a very strong car at the moment." McLaren CEO Zak Brown leaned closer to Norris' viewpoint, acknowledging differences in team strategies during practice.
"You never know who's using which strategy in practice," he told Sky Deutschland. "Our race pace is better than on a single lap. We're strong on a single lap, too, but Max is strong, a great driver, and so are Mercedes and Ferrari.
You can certainly assume that all four will win races this year." While Norris and Piastri's disagreement remains off-track, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko sees their on-track rivalry as an opportunity for his team. "I doubt either of them will submit to any team orders," he told ORF.
"And it's actually a great opportunity for us to have them fight each other. We prefer it if one wins alternately, then the other," Marko added with a smile, suggesting that McLaren's internal competition could benefit Verstappen's championship campaign..
