Lando Norris terms the unbeatable claims as ‘nonsense and crap’, leaving it on media to write facts, as he adds on McLaren having best F1 pair currently.
Ever since the 2025 F1 season has kick-started, rivals have labeled McLaren in multiple categories but all resonating and synonymous to ‘domination’. They have secured wins in both the races apart from the sprint to lead both the constructors’ and drivers’ championships.
Their rivals have shared the other places with only Mercedes taking bigger advantage to be close to McLaren, but the Woking-based outfit remains in an advantageous position with the pace they have. When asked about the statements by his rivals, Norris mostly termed them as ‘nonsense’.
He feels it is all crap that they are talking and puts it on media to state the facts. He knows why they are saying what they are saying. He notes that McLaren is still not as dominating as Mercedes and Red Bull have been for four to five years in their time. But he is certainly enjoying the phase that they are in.
“I think the people that say that, like the unbeatable stuff is just nonsense, and they just like to talk crap sometimes,” said Norris to media. “But, I mean, it’s your job as the media to figure out these things, I think, and not just listen to what everyone says and write what they say. You have to try and understand what they’re saying and prove that what they’re saying is a fact, rather than I can just say a load of crap and you write it down.
“But, you know, it’s up to you [the media], I think, to get across the facts of what is true and not just write nonsense that people like to say. So, I think if you go back one year ago, Red Bull was still a lot further ahead than we are now. The fact that they had two drivers up there dominating, they were a lot further ahead than we are now.
“So I think, we’re doing a very good job, and I feel like people are talking about us a lot more now. But I think it’s because of where we’ve come from, over the last year and a half, where the deficit we’ve come from. But the car Red Bull had at this time last year was a lot better than what we have now, comparing to our competitors. So I think you have to take that into account.
“I think we all feel good as a team, knowing that we have a strong car, not always the easiest car to drive, but a very strong car, and the strongest car on the grid. But the target, I think, is a nice thing. Like, we’re still new to it. I mean, Mercedes had it for like five, six years, where they were the targets. So I think we’ve got a bit of time before we get to those kind of numbers.
“So for now, it’s still like a motivating thing. So while we were at the front, we were there behind us, and it still kind of really pushes us. I think when you do it for four, five, six years, like Mercedes did back then, that’s probably at some point, it’s just only human that you start to get a little bit complacent with certain things. But I think for us, we pushed even more into this season, to start the season off on the right foot, ending with a very good year last year.
“And yeah, we want to still try and increase our advantage more than what it is now. So yeah, it’s a good thing for us. And we know that people love to talk and just say things and random things and stuff. That’s not true, but I hope that you guys are the ones that figure out the people who talk crap and nonsense and figure out what the facts are of it,” summed up Norris.
In terms of performance, the Brit thinks it is a team effort and that he and Oscar Piastri are pushing each other to be where they are. He feels McLaren to have the best pair considering how other three F1 teams – Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – are placed in terms of their line-up.
All three has one driver leading the charge, with George Russell, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Their teammates Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Yuki Tsunoda (now) and Lewis Hamilton are new to game. While the Italian is a rookie, the latter two are experienced but they are new to their teams.
“I’m confident we’re strong at every track at the minute,” continued Norris. “But we’ve seen over the last week and a half people saying they don’t think they’re that far away. So as much as Max might say stuff… like his last stint in China was very strong. Still not as good as us, but it was a lot more competitive. Fred Vasseur said that he thinks Ferrari should be competing against us and be up there a lot more.
“They beat us in the sprint, and they qualified ahead of us, so we’re that far ahead of them. People love to be saying that because we are the only team that has two good drivers at the minute. That’s the big difference. If one of us was doing a lot worse, or one of us was not as strong…like in the sprint in China, Oscar was second and I was eighth but you’d have that a lot more often, like you do with Ferrari and Red Bull.
“Max is up there, and you have the other driver a lot further back, so I think the fact we have two good drivers is honestly making the biggest difference. In certain cases, I don’t think we necessarily have the quickest car, whether it was the sprint last weekend [in China], qualifying or the race. But the fact we have two good drivers pushing each other makes a bigger difference than people expect and take acknowledgement for.
“Do I agree that we have the best car? I say yes. It is nice to say because we have not had that before in Formula 1, Max had his time in having a best car by a long way and now it is our chance. It is our turn. That’s the game, you try and get every advantage possible, McLaren did a better job to beat the rest and make it better than everyone else. We’ll take the advantage while we can, but the others are certainly not that far behind.
“To just clarify, the Ferrari one is obviously the experience side of… not experience of Formula 1, because we’re lacking in that department, but just two drivers who understand the team, who have been at the team for a long time. Lewis is new to the Ferrari. He openly says he’s still learning how to use the steering wheel – the complexity of the steering wheel, not just how to use one. So is he going to be able to get every last bit of it out of the car, comparing to what me and Oscar can? No.
“Like, he’s openly admitting to that, you know? So, it’s not that I think I’m much better than Lewis or Charles, because I don’t, and I’ll always been the first to admit that. I would never put myself in any ‘best of all’ ever. But how we work as a team, I do think is better than every other team. How we push each other and get more out of one another as two drivers, I also agree we’re better than any other team, so I think that’s our advantage,” summed up Norris.
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