MELBOURNE, Australia — Lando Norris says it is “short-sighted” to believe McLaren has a clear advantage over its rivals to start the Formula One season, instead anticipating a four-team fight at the front.
McLaren won its first F1 constructors’ championship since 1998 last year, and appeared to continue its impressive recent form with its new car for this season during the three-day preseason test in Bahrain at the end of last month.
A quick race simulation by Norris on the second day of the test caught the attention of rival teams, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff saying on Thursday in Melbourne there was “just a gap” to McLaren at the front.
But Norris, who finished as runner-up to Max Verstappen in last year’s drivers’ championship, shrugged off the favorite tag during Thursday’s media day ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
“I know there’s a lot of expectation, and it’s what everyone says,” Norris said. “Really, it was my one race run I did, kind of just made everyone believe this quite heavily. It was a good race run, but it was also in the most perfect conditions.
“So I’m quite surprised so many people are short-sighted, especially people you wouldn’t expect to be, making so many conclusions before we’ve even started the season.
“Everyone just wants to play that game of looking like the underdog and playing it down. We just focus on ourselves.”
Wolff is not alone in tipping McLaren to hold the early advantage this year. Mercedes driver George Russell said the British team was “definitely favorite” going into Australia, while Verstappen has dismissed his own win chances in part thanks to McLaren’s pace in testing.
Norris joked that it was “great publicity” for McLaren to have so many teams talking up its pace, but that it “makes no difference” to the team.
“If I go out this weekend and do a bad job, who cares what people have said in the past?” Norris said.
“I don’t believe it; I feel like we’re in a similar playing field to the top other three teams. I still think it’s us top four. But there are many things that other people didn’t see where other people looked extremely strong, including Red Bull, including Mercedes, including Ferrari.
“I know how much fuel and stuff Ferrari had for a lot of the testing. You’d be surprised at how quick they’re going to be this weekend.
“People can talk all they want. I think for us, we’ve kept to ourselves, we’ve kept focused. We want to be quick, we expect to be up there fighting.
“But I definitely don’t think by the margin that everyone is saying.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella echoed Norris’ comments about the four-team fight at the front, which ran through much of last year and fueled expectation through the paddock of one of the closest title races in recent history going into 2025.
“I think it is going to be another season in which, depending on the conditions and the circuit, we’ll see some cars change in the pecking order,” Stella said. “I think we have a very exciting and leveled Formula One season ahead.”
Top photo: David Davies/PA Images/Alamy Images/Sipa USA
