Laser-focused Norris admits 'It's about the championship battle'

19:43, 28 Aug

Updated: 20:04, 28 Aug

bySavannah Lenz

Lando Norris has slowly chipped away at McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri's championship lead. Heading into the summer break, they only have nine points between them. Now, in Zandvoort, Norris reflects on the battle ahead.

During Thursday's press conference, Norris was asked if he was starting the second part of the season in a good place.

He replied, "I felt good before. I feel good now. I went through some harder times at the beginning of the year – there were some tricky moments – but we worked on quite a bit, me from my side and the team from their side, to improve and get a bit back on track. We did that, so it was nice to see some of those results come back my way."

However, Norris admits, "There always was, still is, and always will be more things to improve on and try and get stronger at. That’s what Formula 1 is, really, at the end of the day. I feel good, ready to go again – ready for a long, tricky, challenging second part of the season, but all for good reasons."

Lando Norris in Hungary

'Race by race'

The Briton held the championship lead for only three races as Piastri took the lead from him at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Despite this, Norris has won three out of the last four races, leaving only nine points between the two.

When asked if it was all about the championship now, he replied, "Of course, it's about the championship, but we do that race by race."

"Everyone has their own way of saying that and doing it. But everyone takes it race by race, really. We want to win, of course. I always want to get maximum points and make my life easy, but it's never that simple."

Just before the summer break, neither McLaren driver managed to get pole position. Instead, it was Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. While Leclerc did not win, Norris still pointed out the race pace he had.

"We still have good competition, even in Budapest. The Ferraris were extremely quick, and George was not too far away. We still expect good battles and good competition."

However, the real battle lies between Piastri and Norris.

He said, "But as everyone knows, we expect a good battle between us as teammates – between Oscar and myself – and that’s the one I’m most looking forward to."