Lando Norris believes his Grand Prix performance in Mexico City was the best he has achieved during a race weekend after dominating from pole position to take the championship lead.
McLaren had not won since Oscar Piastri’s win at Zandvoort, but Norris delivered an impressive pole lap on Saturday and then led every lap of the race to win by more than 30 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc. Although this was the largest winning margin of his career to date, Norris says he is most proud of the way he performed all weekend.
“I think this is the one where I just performed the best,” Norris said. “I don’t know, dominant or not, but it’s the one where I think I performed the best, from FP2 to the end of the race. In a way I think this is just my best performance over a whole weekend – all my laps in qualifying, all my training, all my race.”
“The car is just fast; it’s been that way all season, but it’s obviously still hard to drive at times. I think if you just find that sweet spot it can be on the road and make your life a little bit easier. I don’t know [why]. It’s hard to say what’s better about mine than the others, but I’ve just had a little more grip, and that’s usually always the easiest answer.”
Norris was 34 points behind Piastri after withdrawing from second place at Zandvoort after the summer break, but has since surpassed his teammate in each of the five races to take the lead by a single point heading into the final four rounds.
“It’s still very clear in my mind,” he said. “You move [Zandvoort] behind you. Right? You forget about that as much as you can, and you just focus on each upcoming race. You forget every last weekend. Of course you try to learn from every situation, but every weekend is new and you have a fresh start to try new things and do better than before. I feel like I did that really well this weekend.
“The last few have been decent. This has been my best performance by far, but there’s still a long way to go, so I just have to keep doing what I’m doing, keep trying to be consistent against some very fast guys around me.
“I think that will be good, but it doesn’t mean I have to drive or do anything else because I’m ahead or behind or whatever. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Despite taking over the championship lead, Norris also warns that Max Verstappen has beaten both McLaren drivers since the summer break, having moved to within 36 points of the lead with a third-place finish in Mexico.
“It’s one weekend at a time. I’m happy,” he said. “I’m focused on myself, I’m keeping my head down, I’m ignoring all this and staying to myself, and it’s working at the moment, so I’m happy.
“For the championship, who knows? It’s still pretty tight between us. Max has still caught me in the last six, seven weekends, so… I’ve kept my head down, kept focused, done my own thing and that’s all you can do. Every weekend is new, every weekend is different, and it’s still a long way to go.”
#Norris #considers #title #lead #Mexico #performance #date #RACER