Norris outlines area for improvement in Miami as he explains why he’s ‘not worried’ about Piastri taking championship momentum

Lando Norris has admitted that he is aiming to improve his Qualifying performance off the back of two difficult Saturdays at the last two Grands Prix, with the Briton also insisting that he is “not worried” about team mate Oscar Piastri taking momentum as the new Drivers’ Championship leader.

After Norris took victory at the season opener in Australia, Piastri has gone on to notch up three race wins, leading to the Australian now heading the Drivers’ Standings by 10 points from Norris.

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The past two rounds have proven particularly challenging at times for Norris, having faced a difficult Q3 in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, forcing him to fight to recover positions on Sunday.

Pushed on what will be the biggest challenges for himself and McLaren this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, Norris acknowledged that he hopes to have a tidier few days as he responded: “Same as normal, the competition.

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“We feel good and we feel confident that we’re the best, but the others are certainly not far behind and consistently putting pressure on us, so one little mistake and we’re behind and we’re not where we want to be.

“Otherwise it’s just another weekend; it’s another weekend where we’re trying to improve, others are trying to improve [to] try and get ahead of us. So, yeah, just making sure I have a good weekend and a clean weekend, that’s the main thing.”

Asked if he might change his approach to Qualifying as a result of his recent Q3 struggles, Norris explained: “I’m working on my things, I’m working on what to improve and trying to figure out all the things behind the scenes on what I need to do better on.

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“It’s certainly not because of a lack of speed or lack of ability to do so – I’ve often led the way in Q1 and Q2, but always when I got to Q3 then it’s not gone to plan. I think there’s stuff from the driving side and other things from the car side where just things haven’t clicked, but I’m working on it and hopefully this weekend I put it into practice.”

With McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella recently suggesting that the team are working on delivering new parts that may help to make the car feel better for Norris to drive, the 25-year-old admitted that this “will help” but also put the onus on improving himself too.

“There’s also a mixture of things that will slowly come and will be implemented over time,” said Norris. “But I also don’t want to just rely on that myself, so there are also things I’m trying to work on separately and hopefully that’s a better fix than waiting for the bits to come.

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 01: Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren and Lando Norris of Great Britain — Norris has praised Piastri – seen here meeting Miami Dolphins stars Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips during media day in Miami – for his performance so far in 2025

“But it’s good that we’re working as a team and the team are working hard to try to understand these things. It’s been clear that there have been some differences from last year in how the car works, how it acts and then how I’m able to get lap time out of it.

“A mixture of things, but confident that… I have to be a little bit patient with certain things, some things are bigger than others, but it takes time. I’ll just keep my head down and keep pushing myself.”

In the meantime, Norris says that he is not concerned that Piastri may have already gained momentum in the fight for the championship following a strong start to the campaign.

“No, not worried at all,” Norris stated. “He’s doing a good job and he deserves it. Nothing more than that – I don’t believe so much in the momentum stuff, just my opinion.

“I’m doing what I can – clearly I’ve made some mistakes and not [at] the level I need to be, but I believe I can be at the level soon enough. No reason to be worried, it’s Round 6 of 24.

“I know I need to get a move on and I need get into gear a little bit, but I’m doing the best I can every week and trying to improve. The speed is there, the pace is there, the race pace is definitely there. It’s just one thing I need to tidy up. It’s a difficult thing, but I’m confident that I’ll get it.”