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 situation. Norris considers his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen of Red Bull as equal threats, despite their different trajectories in this crucial race. The British driver arrives at the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate race of 2025, with a 24-point lead over Piastri and Verstappen. Their advantage would have been greater if McLaren hadn’t been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix last week for using two cars with illegal levels of wear on the floor, resulting in a disqualification according to F1 regulations.
Norris remained calm during Thursday’s media day, despite the magnitude of what is at stake this week. The pilot has managed to isolate himself from the noise and pressure.“Of course it hurts,” said Norris, reflecting on that result. “There’s a lot of effort that goes into it every weekend from everyone, 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’re 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 of the Red Bull driver until one of its two drivers is on the podium.
It could be considered a bold approach given the recent form: the Dutchman, winner of the last four championships, hasn’t been off the podium since the race resumed after the summer break, with four of his six victories in the second half of the season.
Piastri’s performance has declined over the same period of time. Piastri had a 104-point lead over Verstappen after winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August and had a 34-point lead in the championship over Norris; he has not been on the podium since the Italian Grand Prix in September. Despite the very different form of his rivals, Norris said he sees them both as a legitimate threat to his title chances. When asked if he now sees Verstappen as the main threat, Norris replied: “No, I think they are both the same. They are both equally as good as each other. I know what Max is capable of and I think Oscar is capable of exactly the same thing that Max can do.” “So no, I think they both have pros and cons… [Max] is on a different team and Oscar is also on the same team… but every 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’m excited to give them a good fight on the track.” When asked if he felt any additional pressure from Verstappen being much closer, Norris pointed out that his difference with Piastri was the same before the Nevada race. “No, because the difference before was 24 and it’s still 24, so my advantage is the same. There’s nothing that needs to change. I think we were still fast last weekend, 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’s nothing that needs to 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.”
