Coming off a tough weekend finishing P7 around the narrow Baku streets, the McLaren driver remains confident for the demanding F1 Singapore GP. Last year’s race at Marina Bay was spectacular for Lando Norris as he stormed to victory with a 20 second lead. This time around, the McLaren driver heads into the weekend with high hopes.
Norris was asked how he is feeling coming into the weekend in the FIA Press Conference where he responded:
“Confident. Because like you said, last year was a very good one here. We were very strong here last year. I had a good race, so always nice. I have always enjoyed it since my first year in 2019. So, at the minute, it looks like a little bit worse weather than what we’ve had over the last few years, but excited. It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, so happy to get going.”
The Singapore circuit is one of the most demanding tracks on the F1 calendar. With high heat comes more pressure, exhaustion, and need for tire management. While the track is immensely exciting for the drivers, it is also a proper challenge to take on.
Verstappen remains a threat
While McLaren has been dominating the F1 2025 season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen can never be counted out as a competitor. The Dutchman won the most recent two races, showing that he is still in the battle for the title. When asked if Verstappen’s wins were track-specific or if the World Champion is a challenger at every race, Norris expressed:
“Genuinely a challenger. I think if you go back to the beginning of the season, they were challenging the first six, seven races for race wins, challenging us in the Drivers’. And then we brought some upgrades, improved a little bit. Couple weeks ago, they brought some upgrades, and it seems like that’s kind of put them back on the same level as us.
“So, I think we’re still expecting and we still come into every race with the ambition and with the goal of winning and wanting to dominate as a team and continue the form that we’ve had all season. But nevertheless, you know, it’s a track where Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, certainly over the last few weekends, have been closer. So we expect battles, especially with him.”
Currently, the four-time World Champion holds third place in the battle for the title. The Red Bull driver is 69 points behind Championship leader, and Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri. Additionally, only 44 points separate the Dutchman from Norris in the standings. The Championship fights appeared to be a two-horse race between the McLaren drivers. However, the picture could change as Verstappen lures close behind.
Additionally, when the Briton was asked about the percentage number of chance for Verstappen to snatch the title, he responded:
“I mean, there’s a chance, so… more than zero. I don’t know. It’s probably, like, actual stats. So, I don’t know. Yeah. There’s a chance.”
The Championship battle
Lastly, the Brit was asked if he got more than he bargained for. In fact, he had previously made comments saying it would be easier if there were other drivers between Piastri and himself in the Championship Standings. The two teammates have been close all season, however with Verstappen gaining performance, the threat of the four titles turning into five remains.
“Well, I mean, it’d be easier if I was always finishing first and him third, but that’s not going to be the case. So, you know, it’s difficult to know. I think certainly in Baku, we had the pace to win and we had the car to win and we didn’t. I don’t think we necessarily had the pace to be on pole, but I think we had a chance to fight and had the chance to fight Max. In Monza they were just too quick for us.” he stated
“So if there’s some races coming up where they’re just too fast — which is very possible — he qualified one tenth behind me here last year, even when we were already dominant, he was only one tenth off. So I expect him to be quick for many of the races this season. We’re going to go to Vegas, another low downforce track where we don’t expect to be as great as we have been in other places. So I think there’s still opportunity. We know there’s opportunity for them. But as long as we’re just focusing on ourselves, and I’ll try and maximize every result I can, whether that’s on Saturday or Sunday.“
The Brit appeared confident about the team’s performance while staying wary of the challenge that is Verstappen.
