Lando Norris claims Red Bull on “another level" to McLaren in some areas

Lando Norris believes that Red Bull are “on another level” compared to McLaren in some areas.

Norris’s claim comes after he could only finish seventh on an awful weekend for McLaren at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed a second dominant victory in as many races.

The result has seen Verstappen close the gap to Norris in the world championship down to 44 points, while the Dutchman is now 69 points behind Oscar Piastri, who crashed out of Sunday’s race.

Norris argued that Red Bull’s recent decline in form was overblown and is not surprised to see Verstappen bringing himself back into the 2025 title race.

"It's not often that they're slow, you know, so I think people need to stop being so surprised that they're quick," Norris said.

"Max was winning races already at the beginning of the year, he could have won round one, I think he was pretty close to winning round two in the sprint or something.

"The whole season they've been quick, the Red Bull has been good, they brought some upgrades to Monza which seems to have helped them improve even more.

“So, not a surprise, I think we know that they're an incredibly strong team and one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1 so we expect nothing less.”

Norris cited the strengths of Red Bull's RB21 car after failing to overtake Yuki Tsunoda for sixth late in the race.

“They're going to make our life difficult I think for the rest of the season but we also know from our side, we struggled a bit here [in Baku], Monza clearly were not quick enough,” he added.

"We've made improvements but things where the Red Bull have been so good and dominant in the past, they still have and we don’t. When I was following the Red Bull [of Yuki Tsunoda], there was clearly some areas where they were just another level to us and we need to understand why.”

McLaren still ‘not good enough’ in some areas

Norris feels McLaren’s scrappy weekend in Baku highlights the improvements the team still need to make.

"I think on ultimate pace we were still not bad this weekend [in Baku]," Norris said. "I was still quick in FP1, FP2, FP3 and so forth.

"If it had been a normal qualifying... I think the tricky conditions, the little bit of rain, going out first on track, all added up to making it the worst weekend.

"Our position in the race, I think if I started second, I think I would have finished second. I don't think we had the pace of Red Bull, honestly. That was very, very clear. I think just the lower downforce tracks, we still seem to struggle.

"We still don't have the confidence we need. It can be quick, we're just not able to repeat it as often as we need to and as often as the Red Bull, for example.

“We've had an amazing season, don't get me wrong, but we clearly have things that are not good enough and we have to keep working on them."