Lando Norris says he doesn’t understand why “people keep coming up with all this crap” that McLaren have a significant pace advantage over the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari in F1 2025.

And he believes Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was the “quickest car” during Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, insisting McLaren “have work to do” to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Lando Norris: McLaren ‘have work to do’ with Max Verstappen ‘quickest’ in Jeddah

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

McLaren have won four of the five races held so far in F1 2025, with Norris’s victory at the season opener in Australia followed by three for Piastri in China, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Piastri claimed successive wins for the first time in his career in Jeddah, replacing Norris at the top of the Drivers’ standings in the process.

However, Piastri’s latest victory came after McLaren were beaten to pole position by Verstappen for the second time in three races, with the Red Bull driver converting pole into the win in Japan earlier this month.

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Despite McLaren holding a healthy 77-point lead over second-placed Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship, Norris, who recovered from 10th on the grid to fourth in Saudi Arabia, has insisted that the MCL39 is not as dominant as it appears.

And he believes the team’s strategy of showing more pace in practice sessions gives a false impression of McLaren’s advantage.

Asked about the impressive performances of Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, who held off the number 4 McLaren to secure Ferrari’s first podium of the season with third place in Jeddah, Norris told Sky F1: “I don’t know why people are so surprised.

“They’re just as quick in most sessions, they’re just as quick as us in the race.

“Just because we’re quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this crap.

“They can keep saying what they want. We don’t believe we’re much ahead, as showed.

“I think probably Max was the quickest out there today if he didn’t have that five-second penalty [for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the first lap], so we have work to do.

“People keep saying that we’re the best, we’re the quickest, blah, blah, blah.

“But it’s just because we show a bit more pace in practice and then we don’t have anything left when it gets to qualifying, but that’s our way of doing things.

“That’s how we feel, we optimise things. If we didn’t do it that way, we’d be even further back.

“I’m happy with the work we’re doing. People just need to recalibrate that we’re not [dominant].

“We have a great car and probably the quickest on average, for sure, but clearly not enough.”

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in the post-race press conference, Piastri agreed with Norris that McLaren must work hard to maintain their advantage.

Yet he disagreed with Norris’s suggestion that the Red Bull RB21 was the quicker car in Jeddah.

Asked to respond to Norris’s comments that Verstappen was faster on race day, Piastri said: “No, I think our car was still quicker.

“I think it was difficult to be in dirty air. Max was quicker than I expected for sure in the race.

“I thought over one lap it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Max quick, but in the race I wasn’t expecting to struggle so much at the end of the medium stint, that’s for sure, so clearly we’ve got some work to do.

“I think our car is still very good, but when you look at the layout here compared to Suzuka, it’s the most similar so far and it’s been the two where Max and Red Bull have been closer.

“I think we still have an advantage. I don’t think it’s as big on surfaces like this and layouts like this, but we still have a very strong car at the moment.”

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