Despite a challenging start to F1 2025 for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, Lando Norris insists the RB21 is “pretty damn good”.

That is because Norris believes it is impossible that Verstappen alone could take a “sh*t” car and compete at the front, as he has done on several occasions so far in F1 2025.

Max Verstappen and the Red Bull RB21: Both at a high level?

Verstappen has endured highs and lows in the early stages of his challenge for a fifth straight World Championship, from snatching pole at Suzuka out of nowhere and racing on to victory, to a distant P6 finish in Bahrain which left him with little to say to Red Bull in the aftermath.

Verstappen wrote off his title chances in Bahrain – despite being P3 in the Drivers’ Championship and just five points behind Oscar Piastri and eight off Norris – but Norris is not sleeping on Red Bull’s RB21 car.

Pointing to races like Australia – where Verstappen crossed the line less than a second behind Norris in P2 in challenging conditions – Norris argues that a result like that requires a strong car too.

“We had a very good weekend in Melbourne, but Max was still right on me,” said Norris in an Autosport Magazine interview conducted at the Chinese Grand Prix.

“And that’s not just because he’s an incredible driver in those conditions – their car is still pretty damn good.

“You need both. And Red Bull have a pretty decent car and a very, very good driver. There’s no other way they’d be able to compete against us if that’s not the case. So, I think Red Bull and Max, we can never doubt them.

“100 per cent I acknowledge I’ve got the best car on the grid. Very happy that I say that because it’s been a while. I’m proud that we’ve got to that point as a team and I think we’re all proud that we can say that.

“But, like people have always said, ‘The driver can also make a difference’. I wouldn’t be able to win without the best car. But the car needs to be within like one per cent. It needs to be within that little bit that the driver can then make a difference.

“But like Max could have won in Australia and that’s not because the car’s sh*t and he’s just amazing – the car’s pretty damn good. And he’s also very good.

“It’s kind of that you need that little balance right at the end. That one per cent the driver can add on to.

“I think it mainly goes back to the aspect of me and Oscar helping each other, and using each other, it’s an advantage. That we definitely get more out of one another than any guy on the grid can do alone.”

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The only non-McLaren or Verstappen victor so far in F1 2025 is Lewis Hamilton, who went from pole to P1 in the China Sprint.

But, with a pair of P4s for Charles Leclerc the best Ferrari has conjured up so far in grand prix action, the Scuderia has underwhelmed, Norris believes.

That being said, he does not see that situation remaining the same.

“I think everyone probably expected a little bit more from Ferrari,” he said, “I feel like they expected more from themselves.

“And I expect them to be competition.”

It is not only Ferrari who Norris believes will join McLaren and Red Bull on the race-winning scene in F1 2025.

“I honestly think some races Mercedes will win,” he declared, “I do think that some races Ferrari will win and some races Oscar will probably win.

“But I’m aware of that. It doesn’t make me stressed anymore, worried anymore, because at some point, I’m not going to do a perfect quali lap and I’m going to make a mistake and those kind of things will happen.

“But none of that worries me. It’s just I’m still confident we can win the majority.”

While it is a congested scene at the top of the Drivers’ standings – with Mercedes’ George Russell in P4 only 14 points behind Norris and top spot – McLaren has more breathing space in the Constructors’, their lead over Mercedes currently 58 points.

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