DOHA – Lando Norris, with a relaxed attitude, faces the weekend where he could secure his first world championship. The McLaren driver assures that he feels that everything remains as always, despite the importance of the race.Norris considers his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen of Red Bull as equal threats, despite their different recent performances.With the Qatar Grand Prix approaching, the penultimate race of 2025, Norris has a 24-point lead over Piastri and Verstappen.Norris’s advantage would have been greater if McLaren had not been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix last Saturday for using two cars with illegal levels of wear on the floor. This situation, according to F1 regulations, led to the disqualification.
Norris remained calm during Thursday’s media day, despite the magnitude of what is at stake.The pilot stated that he has managed to isolate himself from the noise and pressure.Of course it hurts. There’s a lot of effort that everyone puts in every weekend, including myself, and I certainly felt that effort disappeared very quickly… Everyone at McLaren feels disappointed with what we had as a result and we are all disappointed… but it was actually quite easy for me to move on and take a few days off and come to this weekend.
Lando Norris
On Thursday, McLaren reiterated that it will not implement team orders to avoid the threat from the Red Bull driver until one of its two drivers is on the podium.
This could be a bold strategy, given the recent form. Verstappen, winner of the last four championships, hasn’t been off the podium since the season resumed after the summer break, with four of his six victories in the second half of the season.In the same period, Piastri’s performance has decreased. Piastri was 104 points ahead of Verstappen after winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August and had a 34-point lead over Norris in the championship; he has not been on the podium since the Italian Grand Prix in September.Despite the differences in the performance of their rivals, Norris said he sees both as a legitimate threat to his title chances.When asked if he now considers Verstappen the main threat, Norris replied: “No, I think they are both the same. They are both equally good. I know what Max is capable of and I think Oscar is capable of exactly the same as Max.So no, I think they both have pros and cons… [Max] is in a different team and Oscar is also in the same team… but each driver wants to fight for their own and prove they are the best.I think they are both competitive, they are both very strong, they are both incredible drivers and I am excited to give them a good fight on the track.”When asked if he felt any additional pressure due to Verstappen’s proximity, Norris pointed out that his difference with Piastri was the same before the Nevada race.”No, because the difference before was 24 and it remains 24, so my advantage is the same. There is nothing that should change. I think we were still fast last weekend and we would have been even faster without the problems. I think we know that Red Bull has been fast lately, so we expect them to be faster this weekend, we expect them to be good next weekend, but there is nothing that should change from anyone’s side.”We treat Max and Red Bull as a great team and a great competitor throughout the season and that continues now, so no, nothing changes for all of us.”
