Lando Norris hits back at reporters over Red Bull weakness claims

Lando Norris believes many underestimate just how quick Red Bull has been during the 2025 F1 season.

Max Verstappen returned to winning ways last time out at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

After taking the lead on the opening lap, Verstappen controlled the race from the front to take his second win of the year.

Verstappen’s win at Imola has put him back in F1 title contention.

The Dutchman is just 24 points behind Oscar Piastri after seven races.

Red Bull have struggled on street circuits over the past couple of seasons, particularly in low-speed corners.

That fact was put to Norris on Thursday ahead of the Monaco GP.

Norris responded to the claim: “What makes you say that they’re not as good in slow-speed corners?”

The journalist mentioned their poor pace last year, leading Norris to say, “Last year? Oh, we’re in 2025 now.”

Expanding on his answer, Norris pushed back on the narrative around how slow Red Bull have been.

“Well they won last weekend. They’ve been pole several times this season,” Norris said. “Max has won several races. He should have won in Saudi. There’s also slow-speed corners in Imola where they were very strong. I think we have more of the facts than what people on the outside do. There’s a lot of negative stuff about how bad their car is.

“They’re very quick. We’ve said that the whole season. Outside people have underestimated them. We know that they’re a threat, they have the whole year and will continue to be especially when you’re a team that has won many championships, especially in the last five, 10 years. And they have Max.

“I don’t think you can ever doubt them. They won last weekend because they deserved it. They were good in slow speed, they were good in high speed, and they have a good car.”

Norris highlights Miami to Imola example

Miami was McLaren’s most dominant performance of the year.

George Russell was McLaren’s nearest challenger in Miami but finished over 30 seconds off the lead.

McLaren’s dominant race pace wasn’t apparent at Imola, as neither Norris nor Piastri could keep up with Verstappen.

“Like we saw between Miami and Imola for ourselves, we can look like heroes one weekend and get beat the next,” Norris added.

It’s not because anything changed. Literally, just the track. The car is the same. Obviously, the tyres were the same. It’s literally just the track’s different. We go from one to the other.

“We just take every weekend as it comes. They could be amazing here. We will wait and see.”