Lando Norris questioned why McLaren’s rivals were so far behind (Image: Getty)
has dismissed the view that car is supremely fast and questioned why their F1 rivals were so far behind them at the Norris took pole position narrowly ahead of his team-mate in Melbourne, but their closest challenger was some four tenths down on the Papaya to highlight the margin in one-lap pace. Despite multiple downpours of rain wreaking havoc during Sunday’s race, the Briton led for 55 of the 58 laps around the Albert Park Circuit were backed to mount a threat with Charles Leclerc and , yet the Prancing Horse fell way short of expectations on a disappointing weekend.
Several of their rivals made mention of the ominous pace demonstrated by in both qualifying and the race. Norris, however, took a dim view of their comments and insisted their rivals’ failings were to blame for them not being closer. “I don’t know why people always talk about the car so much, like Oscar and I drove very well [in qualifying], but the others should not have been as far off as what they were,” he told Sky Sports F1. “That was clear, and I do think we have by a little margin the best car, I’m not denying that. But not everything is about the car, that is clear, but it was a deserved win.”
Norris crossed the line to take his fifth career victory and it appears the biggest threat to the 25-year-old’s Drivers’ Championship hopes this season will be his garage neighbour Piastri.
The Australian was only slightly slower than Norris and would’ve challenged for the win had he not spun out after dipping his car onto the damp grass in the latter stages of the race.
Lando Norris fought off Max Verstappen in qualifying and during the race (Image: Getty)
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His minor error denied what would’ve been their 50th one-two finish in Formula One, but Norris praised his team for executing their strategy to perfection in tricky circumstances after making bold calls on the tyre choices as the rain fell Down Under.
“We made some good decisions as a team, because last year, we would have done the same race and we wouldn’t have won because we were not the best at making those decisions, but today we were,” he added.
Lando Norris’ closest rival may be his team-mate Oscar Piastri (Image: Getty)
“I give a lot of credit to the team, because they worked hard over the winter to make sure they were ready for a day like today.”
go into the second weekend of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Sunday level with in the Constructors’ standings with 27 points, while are third with 18.