Lando Norris is adamant McLaren are not unbeatable, they’re just the “only team with two good drivers”, and that is making the difference.

After Norris won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in what should’ve been a McLaren 1-2 were it not for Oscar Piastri’s slip into the grass, George Russell declared McLaren could win every race in F1 2025.

Lando Norris: They just like to talk crap sometimes

“I think that car is definitely capable of winning every race, and their car should win every race,” he said, adding, “I think the gap they have on everybody this year is bigger than Red Bull has ever had.”

However, a week later McLaren suffered their first defeat with Lewis Hamilton racing from lights to flag at the Sprint in China.

24 hours later, McLaren did have their first 1-2 of the campaign as Piastri led Norris home in the Grand Prix.

F1 2025: The important numbers

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

That only solidified Russell’s opinion, the Mercedes driver saying: “They’re clearly doing some pretty trick, and that gap is… I mean, it’s huge.”

Norris though, calls bull as he firmly believes Red Bull’s advantage during their heydays was a lot than McLaren’s today.

“I think the people that say that, like the ‘unbeatable’ stuff, it’s just nonsense. They just like to talk crap sometimes,” he told the media ahead of round three, the Japanese Grand Prix.

“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 it’s up to you, I think, to get across the facts of what is true, and not just write nonsense that people like to say.

“I think if we go back one year ago, Red Bull were 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.

“I think it’s because of where we’ve come from over the last year and a half, the deficit we’ve come from. But the car Red Bull had this time last year was a lot better than what we have now, compared to our competitors.

“I think you have to take that into account, but… I think we all feel good as a team, knowing that we have a strong car. It’s not always the easiest car to drive, but a very strong car and the strongest car on the grid.

“The target [on our back] is a nice thing, I think. We’re still new to it. I mean, Mercedes had it for five, six years where they were the targets, so I think we’ve got a bit of time before we get to those kinds of numbers. So for now, it’s still like a motivating thing. While we’re at the front, we know that they’re behind us, so it really pushes us.

“I think we’ve pushed even more into this season, to start the season off on the right foot, ending with a very good year last year. We want to still try and increase our advantage more than what it is now.

“It’s a good thing for us and we know that people love to talk and just say random things and stuff that’s not true. But I hope that you guys are the ones that figure out the people you saw crap and nonsense, and figure out what the facts are of it.”

In fact, more than the car, the Briton believes it is McLaren’s driving pairing that is making them standout as instead of having one driver excelling, Norris and Piastri are fighting at the front together.

That also means they’re still picking up big points when one of them has an off day.

“I’m confident that at every track at the minute we are strong,” he said. “But we’ve seen over the last week and a half all the 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. I saw Fred Vasseur said that he thinks Ferrari should be competing against us and a lot more up there. In fact, 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. In the Sprint, Oscar was second or third and I was eighth.

“You’d have that a lot more often, like you do with Ferrari and like you do with 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.”

However, that doesn’t mean McLaren’s MCL39 isn’t still the best of the 10 on track.

“Do I agree we have the best car? Yes,” Norris conceded, “and it’s nice to say that, I’ve not had that before in Formula One.

“Max has had his time of having the best car by a long way and now it’s our chance, it’s our turn. So that’s the game. You try and get every advantage possible. And McLaren did a very good job to be the best and make it better than everyone else. We take the advantage while we can, but the others are certainly not that far behind.”

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