Norris won't make F1 prediction: 'It doesn't help with anything'

The British formation hopes to be in contention for the world title within a couple of seasons, but there is still a lot to do before that. Last season, it became clear that the gap with Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes is still wide, while Alpine also did better.

The question, then, is which team will be McLaren's biggest rival. Norris finds that difficult to answer, he told GPblog and others. "There's no point like now in the season trying to make these guesses or assumptions," he let on. "I don't think that changes anything. It doesn't help with anything."

"We have to literally just focus on ourselves," stressed Norris, who hopes McLaren will start the season better than it was in 2022. "It's just needless time spent doing that. So you know, we give respect to the people who are doing a good job."

Norris on competition for McLaren

Norris, who has Oscar Piastri as a teammate this season, sees plenty of teams in the midfield with a chance of scoring plenty of points. "Aston Martin, you know, they were ahead of us in several races last year and had a very competitive car, AlpahTauri as well. But I'm sure it's going to be a tighter field than in previous years or last year because it's a second year of a new era."

For the driver, then, it is clear that McLaren will have plenty of competition and therefore the details will make the difference. "You probably have those top three teams, potentially leading the way a little bit, maybe someone else that joins in, but the rest is probably all fighting for the same position."