McLaren lived up to expectations heading into 2025 by fielding the fastest car on the grid, and by quite a margin. The defending champs look set to retain the title, with their drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also tipped to be the top two in the standings this year.
But while Piastri is flourishing with the current mechanical package, Norris is finding it difficult to get used to it. This could come as a surprise. After all, Norris has been with McLaren since 2019 and, for the most part, he has been hailed as championship material throughout.
Although Piastri — who joined McLaren in 2023 — has also been regarded as world-class, he was mostly in the shadows of Norris for the first two seasons. However, this season, the Australian is outperforming his teammate comprehensively and appears to be much more comfortable with the MCL39.
That begs the question: why hasn’t Norris been able to get up to speed with what is arguably the fastest car on the grid? According to him, it’s because F1 isn’t as simple as just driving the fastest car to victory.
Although Norris is the more senior McLaren driver, he revealed in an interview with The Race how every year, the car has changed. That means he has had to adapt to several different configurations, making it impossible to stay consistent with a particular driving style.
“So, in the end of the day, the answer for me being quick in a McLaren has never been because it’s the only car I’ve driven, because the McLaren from nowadays could not be even compared to the McLaren of a few years ago,” the 24-year-old said.
Norris insisted that adaptability is one of his strong suits, but it makes it difficult for him to get the best out of himself. He feels that has been one of his major struggles this year, because even though the car is “100% better,” it’s still not quite to his liking and remains tricky to drive.
LANDO NORRIS HITS THE WALL IN Q3 CAUSING A RED FLAG
He was ok after the crash. pic.twitter.com/yu570Aw9O7
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 19, 2025
“You know, we have the best car on the grid. But it might just be that little bit trickier for me to get those last hundreds out of. And like we just touched on, I’m not happy unless I know I’ve kind of got everything out of it, whether that means I’m first or third or whatever it is.”
The Bristol-born driver further added that there’s no particular area he can pinpoint where he has been struggling. He’s just not feeling in sync with the car, which is what is making it difficult for him to perform in qualifying and the race.
“It’s just the underlying feeling that I’ve had with this car,” Norris continued. “Things just aren’t flowing as naturally. And then when you have to drive in a manner which is a little bit less natural, even if you’re adapting to things and you’re trying hard to adapt to different scenarios and different way of driving, as soon as you have to maybe think in a slightly different way, that can cost you 0.200s, 0.300s, 0.400s.”
In the same interview, Norris acknowledged that he’s been uncharacteristically irritable, frustrated by his own shortcomings and the lack of clear solutions. With his grip in the championship standings slipping and momentum shifting toward Piastri, the number of complaints has grown, constructive or not.
“It’s just I’m not satisfied with not winning and not performing at the best. And then I’m critical of myself. I’m critical of how we work as a team. And that’s why I come across the way I do,” he added.
