Lando Norris responds angrily to question 'people talk about' after Australian GP win
Lando Norris and McLaren were the pre-season favourites for Formula 1 title glory in 2025 and got off to the ideal start with victory at the Australian Grand Prix
by Daniel Moxon · The MirrorLando Norris argued "not everything is about the car" as he tried to shift praise instead onto his trackside McLaren colleagues.
Pre-season Formula 1 drivers' title favourite Norris got off to the perfect start in Melbourne on Sunday by winning the Australian Grand Prix. He was challenged late on by Max Verstappen but held off the Red Bull racer to take victory.
McLaren were expected to be strong contenders for the win and they could have had a one-two finish, had Oscar Piastri not slipped off track and lost too much time stuck in the grass when he was driving in second place. In the end, the Melbourne native finished his home race down in ninth.
But after a chaotic, rain-soaked race, Norris was keen to dismiss any notion that the victory was secured just because McLaren look to have the quickest car right now.
"I don't know why people talk about the car so much," he stewed. "I'm not denying we have a good car, but not everything is about the car. Today was a deserved win because we made good decisions as a team.
"In the past, like last year, we would have done the same race and we wouldn't have won the race because we were not the best at making those decisions. But today we were and I give a lot of credit to the team because they worked hard over the winter to make sure we were ready for a day like today."
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Piastri's trip off track opened the door for Verstappen to attack his main title rival from last year. It is a duel which looked likely to happen again in 2025 but this time it was Norris who drew first blood and he feels that, like his team, he has learned a lot from his failed title bid last term.
He said: "We got it wrong a lot last year, so I guess we learned from our mistakes. We lost out at Silverstone and Canada through a race like this, so we've learned from our mistakes, I think.
"It's still only round one of 24, but dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max and Oscar behind me, I was pushing the whole way through. So to not make too many mistakes and to not make a mistake that cost me anything, I guess I can take a bit of credit for that. But I need to give McLaren a big thanks because they have given me an amazing car.
"I stayed calm and kept it together and that's the most important thing. I know what I'm capable of and I know what I can do. It's just round one so we need to go do it again next weekend and there's a long season ahead. We've just got to keep our heads down and keep pushing."