“They’re Just Quick as Us”: Lando Norris Asks People Not to Be ‘Surprised’ by Ferrari and Red Bull’s Pace

McLaren appears to have had the best mechanical package so far this season, but Lando Norris refuses to acknowledge it, perhaps due to his inability to fully capitalize on the MCL39’s potential. In Saudi Arabia last weekend, the Briton endured yet another torrid outing, at least by McLaren’s high pace standards.

A crash in Q3 on Saturday put him on the back foot before the race had even begun. Starting from P10, it was always going to be about damage control for Norris. Meanwhile, his teammate Oscar Piastri, who secured P2, was in the fight for victory.

That said, Norris did a decent job of recovering and came quite close to the top three. In the closing stages, had he managed to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, he would have finished third under the lights in Jeddah.

Many were surprised to see Leclerc matching McLaren’s pace. At the front, even Max Verstappen was lapping at a similar rate to Piastri. While this could simply come down to the drivers’ individual brilliance, Norris is hyping them up and insists that McLaren’s performance isn’t comfortably clear of Ferrari and Red Bull.

“I don’t why people are so surprised. They’re just as quick in quali, in most sessions, they’re just as quick as us in the race. People, just because we are quick in practice keep coming up with all this crap,” the 25-year-old said in his post-race interview in Jeddah.

As for his missed podium, Norris stated, “I’m still happy. I’m happy with my comeback. It’s the best that I could achieve.”

Given that he lost the championship lead and couldn’t secure an ideal race result, that was a relatively positive outlook from the Briton. But is there any real substance to Norris‘ claims about McLaren’s pace advantage being nullified? Not quite.

Both Red Bull and Ferrari have been rather mercurial in terms of performance this season. The Milton Keynes outfit, for instance, struggled badly just a week earlier in Bahrain, where Verstappen could barely manage a P6 finish—this coming right after his dominant win in Suzuka just two weeks prior.

The same applies to Ferrari. They’ve shown flashes of brilliance and the SF-25 appears to have potential, but Leclerc’s podium in Jeddah was the first time that promise truly materialized on track.

It was Piastri, in fact, who offered a more grounded perspective on McLaren’s standing. He noted that both Leclerc and Verstappen seemed quicker in Jeddah, providing better insight into the actual pecking order.

The Australian driver said, “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.”

Piastri’s point about track layout and characteristics affecting Red Bull’s performance is spot on. Suzuka and Jeddah didn’t see as much tyre degradation compared to circuits like Bahrain and Shanghai—where Verstappen couldn’t even make the podium. Even in Shanghai, his performance in the Grand Prix was slightly better than expected, largely because the tyre wear wasn’t as severe as anticipated.

With Miami and then Imola coming up—each with distinct layouts, asphalt characteristics, and levels of tyre degradation—it’ll be interesting to see where Red Bull and Verstappen stand in terms of their performance deficit.

The bottom line is that McLaren do have a pace advantage—it’s just that it varies from track to track, which has become the norm in Formula 1 over the past year and a half. What further underscores the British team’s supremacy is that they haven’t been outclassed on merit at any race so far this season.

If and when Red Bull, Ferrari, or Mercedes genuinely outperform McLaren on pace, Norris’ point about a level playing field will hold more weight. For now, though, the #4 driver should focus on ironing out his own mistakes, especially with Piastri beginning to rack up wins and overtaking him in the drivers’ standings.