McLaren have stronger line-up than Ferrari says Norris

Lando Norris believes the way he and team-mate Oscar Piastri "push each other on" means McLaren have the strongest driver line-up on the Formula 1 grid.

Norris and Piastri have won the opening two F1 races of 2025 and are set for a season-long title battle in their third campaign as team-mates at McLaren.

Although neither have won the drivers' championship, unlike Red Bull's Max Verstappen or Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, Norris was keen to bring up the quality of McLaren's driver pairing ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

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"I'm confident at every track at the minute that we are strong. But we've seen over the last week and a half, other people saying that they don't think that we're that far away," said the current championship leader.

"As much as Max might say stuff, 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 that Ferrari should be competing against us, and a lot more up there, they beat us in the Sprint, and they qualified ahead of us.

"We're not that far ahead of them. People love to be saying that, I think, because we literally 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 Oscar was second in the China Sprint and I was already eighth, but you would have that a lot more often, like you do with Ferrari, or like you do with Red Bull. Max is up there, and you have the other driver a lot further back.

"Just the fact that we have two good drivers is honestly making the biggest difference because in certain cases I don't think we necessarily had the quickest car, whether it was the Sprint in China or Qualifying or the race, but the fact that we have just two good drivers pushing each other makes a bigger difference than people expect."

McLaren and Aston Martin were the only teams to retain their driver line-up from 2024 to this season as half of the grid changed.

Norris thinks the time it takes for a driver to adapt to a new team, including Hamilton, gives McLaren an advantage.

"The Ferrari one is the experience side in F1 because we are lacking in that department. [We] just have two drivers who understand the team, who have been at the team for a long time," he added when asked to elaborate further on his comments.

"Lewis is new to Ferrari. He openly says he's still learning how to use the complexity of the steering wheel. Is he going to be able to get every last bit of it out of the car, compared to what me and Oscar can? No, he's openly admitting to that.

"So, it's not that I think I'm much better than Lewis or Charles, because I don't, and I've always been the first to admit that. I would never put myself on any pedestal, ever.

"But how we work as a team, I do think is better than any 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."

Norris: I'm more prepared this year for title

Norris is eight points ahead of Verstappen after two events, nine points in front of George Russell and 10 points clear of team-mate Piastri.

The 25-year-old has previously stated he and McLaren were not ready to win the drivers' title last season but thinks this year is "different" due to Verstappen not building an early championship lead.

"Just being in the situation I was last year, being at that consistent 40-50 point deficit, 60 points, which was all lost at the beginning, it's just very difficult to come back from that," he said.

"Even though at certain races we had the best car and Max was struggling, he still never just had a bad result. He did a very good job and he easily deserved it last year, but it shows that as soon as a car is a bit better, like it is this year, what kind of difference it can make.

"As soon as they have a bit of struggles, like we had at times last year, how much worse it makes you, everything is just relative in certain ways.

"Not only do I think that we improved the car a lot and now we have the best car, but I also think between Oscar and myself, we both improved our driving a lot.

"I also feel like I'm more prepared for whatever the situation may be, whether it is racing against Max or Oscar or Lewis or Charles. I feel like I'm more prepared to know what level I need to be at, whether it's going to be a risky level or a non-risky, there's just different situations along the way, but I feel a lot more ready this year."

Piastri not looking at championship standings

After spinning at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Piastri re-gained 13 points last time out in China to trail Norris by just 10 points coming into this weekend.

Piastri says he was not concerned about losing so many points in the first race.

"You never want to give any advantage away, whether it's lap time or points. You never want to give it away if you don't have to. Of course, I want to try and reverse that gap that we have," he said.

"But with 22 races to go it would be a pretty stressful year if you were worrying about that gap already. For me, it's just trying to make sure I execute every weekend to the best that I can. I feel like the first two weekends of the year have been good examples of that and think if you do that, then the points will naturally take care of itself."

Verstappen won races last year where Red Bull appeared to not have the fastest car, which Piastri alluded would be key in this season's title battle for McLaren.

"The first six races are just as important as the last six. But obviously the last six you get a much better picture of where everyone sits and stuff like that," he added.

"I've had plenty of championships myself where you look at the gaps and where you've lost points and stuff like that. You generally don't really look at where in the year they came. You just look at the fact that you did have points that you lost through the season at some point, so for me it's not really about when it happens.

"I think even in that situation later in the year, you're always trying to maximise what you've got every weekend. As much as we say that 'Max won the championship at the start of last season', he also hung on to it at the end and didn't really lose any points to Lando, or anyone at the end of the season when he didn't have the strongest car. So, I think those kind of weekends where you maximise the performance, that is what it is all about."

Sky Sports F1's live Japanese GP schedule

Friday April 4

• 3am: Japanese GP Practice One (session starts at 3.30am)*
• 5.30am: Team Principals' Press Conference
• 6.45am: Japanese GP Practice Two (session starts at 7am)*
• 8.15am: The F1 Show*

Saturday April 5

• 3.15am: Japanese GP Practice Three (session starts at 3.30am)*
• 6am: Japanese GP Qualifying build-up*
• 7am: Japanese GP Qualifying*
• 9am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday April 6

• 4.30am: Japanese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
• 6am: THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX*
• 8am: Japanese GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
• 9am: Ted's Notebook*

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula is at the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime