Norris already set on resumption of Red Bull dominance
General
Usually finishing P3 across both practice sessions would be a sign of good things to come for McLaren and Lando Norris. It's Norris who seems to be the most apprehensive about how successful the team can be this weekend.
Norris is fearful that normal procedure has returned for Red Bull
Despite a good showing on Friday for Norris, he's already starting to rule out that chance of success around the track in Japan this weekend, I doubt it's going to be pole. The Red Bull is just doing normal Red Bull at the minute but I think we're not far away," before continuing later " I think challenging for pole is probably quite a big task and probably a bit too far but to try"
With a good showing so far today, the upgrades seem to be working well for McLaren, although all is not perfect for the Woking based team, "I think encouraging from a pace point of view, but the car feels pretty all over the place" before simple stating "It’s just difficult to drive."
McLaren's rivals are Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin
Building off of what the Brit had said about the Red Bull, Norris reveals their target for the weekend "To try and challenge Mercedes, who maybe didn't look quite so good today, but challenge the Ferraris and Astons who look pretty good, I think that's going to be our battle for tomorrow."