Lando Norris believes McLaren’s tag as clear F1 favourites is being exaggerated as the Brit looked to dampen expectations ahead of the new season.
The McLaren driver, who finished runner-up to Max Verstappen last year, is the title favourite with the bookies this year following McLaren’s constructors’ championship victory in 2024.
The positive feeling around the papaya-clad outfit also stems from a solid pre-season test in Bahrain, particularly Norris’s impressive race-run on day two.
Yet Norris looked to downplay McLaren’s favourites tag, when asked ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this weekend.
“That’s what everyone says [about being favourites], but it was just my one race run which everyone looks at, but it was in perfect conditions,” Norris said.
“I’m quite surprised so many people are so short-sighted, especially people you wouldn’t expect to be… making so many conclusions before we’ve even started the season.
“Everyone just wants to play that game of looking like the underdog and playing it down. We just focus on ourselves, it’s nice so many people are talking about us – it’s great publicity for us.”
Norris won four races in 2024 as McLaren beat Ferrari to the constructors’ championship by 14 points. However, the driver trailed Verstappen in the end by 63 points.
“It makes no difference,” he added, about the favourite tag. “If I go out this weekend and do a bad job, who cares what people said in the past.
“I don’t believe it, we’re in a similar playing field to the other top three teams.
“Other teams looked very strong [in testing], I know how much fuel Ferrari had. People can talk all they want. We want to be quick and up there fighting. But I don’t think by the margin that everyone says.”
As for Verstappen, he admits there are a “few areas” Red Bull need to work on after slumping to third overall last year.
“We’ll find out this weekend, we’ll try and do our best,” the Dutchman said.
“Testing is not so many days, there are a few areas we can work on and we’ll continue to do so.
“Naturally there’s an improvement but there’s things we want to improve on, this is a different track to Bahrain. We are not the quickest at the moment but it’s a very long season.”
The first race of the season takes place on Sunday, 4am GMT.
