Lando Norris rubbishes 'short-sighted' McLaren favourite claims

Lando Norris has rejected suggestions McLaren are the team to beat heading into the new F1 season.

Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes' George Russell both believe McLaren currently hold the edge over the rest of the field based on their strong showing in pre-season testing.

“We know McLaren are without doubt the favourites right now,” Russell told the official F1 channel. “They look absolutely dominant and I’m sure they’re going to be the ones to beat.”

But Norris feels the view that McLaren are outright favourites for both world championships before a wheel has even been turned in anger is “short-sighted”. 

“I know there's a lot of expectation and it's what everyone says,” Norris is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

"I'm quite surprised so many people are so short-sighted, especially people you wouldn't expect to be, making so many conclusions before you even start the season.

"Everyone just wants to play that game of looking like the underdog and playing it down.”

Norris suggests rivals hid pace in testing

Norris also hinted that some of McLaren’s rivals were hiding their true pace, particularly over one lap, during the three days of running in Bahrain.

"I feel like we're in a similar playing field to the top other three teams,” he added.

“I still think it's us top four but there are many things that other people didn't see [in testing] where other people have been extremely strong, including Red Bull, including Mercedes, including Ferrari.

"I know how much fuel and stuff Ferrari had for a lot of the testing and you'd be surprised at how quick they're going to be this weekend.

"People can talk what they want. We've kept to ourselves, we've kept focused and we want to be quick. We expect to be up there fighting but I don't think you can think by the margin that everyone's saying.”

McLaren teammate and home hero Oscar Piastri was equally keen to downplay the team’s prospects in Melbourne.

“I don’t think so. That would be ideal to try and have that level of success and competitiveness,” Piastri said in response to suggestions McLaren could dominate like Red Bull in recent years. “I think that’s what every team and every driver dreams of.

“At this point of the regulations with how last year went, expecting that is incredibly naive. I think this season is going to be just as tight, if not even tighter, than the second half of last year, especially.

“That’s what we want to aim for, but we have a new set of rules coming next year, which is probably going to change the pecking order quite a bit - at least the gaps quite a bit.

“I don’t think it’s the same circumstances, but also, this year is going to be an incredibly competitive year of F1. As much as I would like to try and have that level of success, I think it’s going to be very, very tough.”