Norris: They just like to talk cr@p sometimes

Formula 1 World Championship leader, Norris won the season opener in Australia and his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri took the chequered flag in China two weeks ago with Norris coming home second to give McLaren a strong early lead in the team standings.

Norris told reporters on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix: "I think just the fact we have two good drivers is obviously making the biggest difference because, in certain cases, I don't think we necessarily had the quickest one...

"But the fact that we have just two good drivers pushing each other makes, I think, just a bigger difference than people expect and take acknowledgement for," said the 25-year-old Briton.

Norris clarified that he did not think the Ferrari duo of seven-times F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were inferior drivers but thought that he and Piastri deserved some credit for how they were performing.

He added: "I also think between Oscar and myself, we both improved our own driving a lot. And I also feel like I'm more prepared for whatever the situation may be, whether it is racing against Max or Oscar or Lewis or Charles, whoever. I feel like I'm more prepared to know what level I need to be at, whether it's going to be like a risky level or non-risk level."

All that said, Norris was happy to acknowledge that the McLaren was the strongest car on the grid at the moment: "It's nice to say that, I've not had that before in Formula 1.

"Max has had his time of having the best car by a long way and now it's our turn. So that's the game. You try and get every advantage possible. And McLaren did a very good job to beat the rest and make it better than everyone else."

Equally, Norris said, talk that the McLaren was so far ahead of the rest of the field that the season was likely to be a procession was well wide of the mark: "I think the people that say that, the unbeatable stuff, is just nonsense and they just like to talk crap sometimes.

"I think if you go back one year ago, Red Bull were a lot further ahead than we are now. The fact that they had two drivers up there dominating, they were a lot further ahead than we are now.

"So I think, we're doing a very good job ... and yeah, we want to still try and increase our advantage more than what it is now," concluded Norris who, ahead of Round 3 in Japan, tops the 2025 Formula 1 drivers' championship standings.