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This factor gave Norris and McLaren the edge over Verstappen in Australia
Everyone expected McLaren to be ahead, but even the team was surprised by the size of their advantage in Australia. Lando Norris, however, has an explanation for why they were so dominant.
"The gap we had in qualifying I was a bit surprised by. Our goal was to be pole and to be quicker, and we expected to be there. But we expected Ferrari to be a good chunk quicker than they were. I think they ended up seven eight-tenths off, they're not seven eight-tenths off by any means. There's not been one session in FP1, FP2, or FP3 that even looks that far off. All of their race runs were a lot closer to us then than everyone else," Norris stated at the press conference.
''Ferrari's race pace on the Friday was like even better than ours almost. So we were a little bit surprised. I'm sure they seemed a bit shocked as well as why they were so far off. I don't know why. But it just shows how difficult it is. It's so easy for it to be going well and so easy for it to just kind of turn upside down."
Charles Leclerc finished the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari in 8th, with teammate Lewis Hamilton in 10th.
Norris praises chemistry with Oscar Piastri
"You saw how quick Max was at the end, and even the beginning of the race, the first five, six, seven laps, Max was just as quick as us. In that period where you have to understand the tyres and know how much to push. You want a well-balanced car, and there are kind of drying-out conditions so the tyres kind of die away evenly rather than more front or rear-limited.
"But there's also a good amount that me and Oscar have learned from each other in knowing how we have to drive the tyre. So I think that also helps to have good teammates that we can learn from, and that's also something that, again, not many other teams have. Because we've both been at McLaren for a little time now, and we both learn a lot from each other. So there's also a good amount of it being not just a car but also two drivers working together well rather than just one." Norris concluded.
Who Norris is referring to with his last statements is open to interpretation. In 2024, McLaren often pointed out the gap between their team and Red Bull Racing—specifically, the difference in their second driver. While Sergio Perez frequently struggled to even reach Q3, both McLaren drivers consistently fought for top positions. Liam Lawson is still new to Red Bull, but he’s not necessarily someone Verstappen can immediately learn from either.
With their advantage over the competition, confidence at McLaren continues to grow. Norris even suggested that winning in China could be easier for McLaren and that the new technical directive would have no impact on their performance.
This article was written in collaboration with Tim Kraaj
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