Formula 1 Saudi Arabian GP
“I make life tough on myself” - Lando Norris bluntly owns up to Jeddah setback
McLaren ace delivers honest assessment as he suffers another blow to his championship hopes
Ben Hunt
Edited: Apr 20, 2025, 8:19 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris admits he is making hard work of his F1 title challenge.
After starting the season as the favourite to win the championship, and his victory in the Australian GP, Norris has slipped behind his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the pecking order.
Piastri has now taken two back-to-back wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to move to the top of the table and got 10 points clear of Norris.
Norris finished fourth in the Saudi Arabian GP after crashing out during qualifying to start in 10th place on the grid. The error meant he was always unable to fight Piastri for the win, and he says he needs to start cutting out the mistakes.
The Briton commented: “It's the best we could have done today. Of course, a shame to miss out on a podium.
“I make life tough for myself, especially when it's a race like that, it would have been a much easier, a lot more chilled just to drive out the front.
“I got to help myself out a little bit and have better Saturdays.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Lars Baron
Norris has also hit back at suggestions that his McLaren holds a superior pace advantage over the rest of the field, claiming that Max Verstappen’s Red Bull is just as fast in race trim.
He added: “Red Bull are just as quick in qualifying. They're just as quick as us in the race.
“Just because we're quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this this crap.
“We don't believe we're much ahead as it shows. I think probably Max was the quickest out there today, so we have work to do.
“People keep saying that we're the best, we're the quickest, blah blah blah, but it's just because we show a bit more pace in practice.
“We don't have anything left when he gets to qualifying, but that's our way of doing things. That's how we feel we optimise things. If we didn't do it that way, we'll be even further back.
“I'm happy with the work we're doing, people just need to recalibrate that. We have a great car and I'm probably the quickest on average but clearly not enough.”
Photos from Saudi Arabian GP - Race
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Sunday
Formula 1
67
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Helmut Marko on Max Verstappen’s “harsh” penalty: “Where was he supposed to go?”
Next article Zak Brown on Max Verstappen's penalty: "Oscar was clearly up the inside"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ben Hunt
How Jonathan Wheatley wants Sauber to use F1 podium momentum in Audi transformation
Formula 1
Formula 1
British GP
Jul 13, 2025
How Jonathan Wheatley wants Sauber to use F1 podium momentum in Audi transformation
How Christian Horner’s Red Bull exit mirrored his F1 arrival and why he will be missed
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jul 10, 2025
How Christian Horner’s Red Bull exit mirrored his F1 arrival and why he will be missed
Keanu Reeves to star in new Cadillac F1 team documentary
Formula 1
Formula 1
Austrian GP
Jul 2, 2025
Keanu Reeves to star in new Cadillac F1 team documentary
More from
Lando Norris
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
1 d
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 2 d
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 d
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Latest news
How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Turkish GP
58 min
How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 17 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 18 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
19 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe