McLaren had best car for “95% of races” but Red Bull have caught up – Norris

McLaren no longer hold the clear advantage over Red Bull they enjoyed earlier in the season, says Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen has won both races since Red Bull introduced a floor upgrade at the Italian Grand Prix. Although both those races took place on low-downforce circuits, Norris believes his rival is now “genuinely a challenger” for more wins elsewhere.

“If you go back to the beginning of the season, they were challenging the first six, seven races [for] race wins and challenging us in the drivers’ [championship],” said Norris.

“Then we brought some upgrades, improved a little bit. A couple of weeks ago they brought some upgrades and it seems like that’s put them back on the same level as us.”

Norris predicted Verstappen will be foremost among their rivals in Singapore this weekend. “We expect battles, especially with him here,” he said.

McLaren are poised to clinch the constructors’ title this weekend. Norris said the scale of their lead in the championship fight is a result of having a competitive car as well as two consistently strong drivers.

“You obviously need the best car,” he said. “I think we’ve had that for 95% of the races.

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“I think there’s been a few here and there, like Monza is the most recent one, where I don’t think we were quick enough. In Baku I would say we probably should have been and were fast enough but we just didn’t do a very good job. But in Monza we weren’t quick enough.

“So there’s been a couple of races where we’ve not had perfect weekends. But […] I think the important thing as a constructor [is] we’ve got two good drivers.

“There are plenty of other teams with two great drivers but – I kind of hate saying it – but not ones who have delivered every weekend as often as Oscar and myself have done. But it’s also easier for us to deliver because we’re also ahead of the field a lot of the time so in some ways we have an easier job than some others.

“As a constructor, you need two drivers who deliver every weekend, who finish most races, and that’s what we’ve been able to do. Maybe not in the last couple, but until that point we’ve been the best-performing duo as drivers and we’ve clearly had the best car and been the best team.”

Norris won last year’s Singapore Grand Prix and is “confident” of his chances this weekend. “Last year was a very good one here. We were very strong here last year, I had a good race.

“I’ve always enjoyed it since my first year in 2019. At the minute it looks like a little bit worse weather than what we’ve had over the last few years. But I’m excited, it’s one of my favourite tracks of the season.”

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2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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