Miami, May 2 (UNI) Lando Norris says he has "no reason to be worried" about this title campaign despite McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri outperforming him at the start of the season.

Norris lost the championship lead to Piastri with the Australian's victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, his third win in five races this year.

Piastri brings a 10-point lead in the championship to Florida after establishing himself as the most consistent performer at McLaren this year, while Norris has struggled to get the best out of the car

in qualifying, the BBC reported.

The Briton, who finished fourth in Jeddah after crashing in qualifying, said before this weekend's Miami Grand Prix: "Not worried at all. He's doing a good job and he deserves it, nothing more than that."

He added: "I don't believe so much in the momentum stuff. Clearly I've made some mistakes and (am) not at the level I need to be, but I believe I can be at the level soon enough.

"No reason to be worried. It's round six of 24. I can't say that forever. I know I need to get a move on, but I'm trying to improve and the speed is there, the race pace is there, it is just one thing I need to tidy up. It's a difficult thing but I am confident I will get it."

Norris says there are characteristics of the 2025 McLaren's behaviour on corner entry that is preventing him accessing his highest level as a driver.

This mainly revolves around the car lacking front grip at a key part of the corner, where Norris wants

it to behave with a sharper turn-in.

Norris, who won the season-opening race in Australia, said, "There are just certain things that don't allow me to feel what I need to feel and those things are what allow me to drive to the level I can drive at, to get pole positions and drive at the highest level in racing.

"We're talking about small things. When we're talking about qualifying at hundredths and thousandths of seconds, that's what I'm complaining about. He is maybe more naturally able to adapt and I also think it is a driver's job to adapt.

"It's clear there has been some changes and whether it's suited Oscar or he has done a better job of adapting, that is not for me to waste my time on.

"But it has hurt me and I have not been able to be at my best level, the level I was on at the end of last season."

Norris said there was a series of upgrades coming to the McLaren car over forthcoming races that should help him.

But he added: "I don't just want to rely on that, there are things I am working myself and hopefully

that will be a better fix.

"It takes time, some of these things, so I just will keep my head down and working on my things."

Piastri said: "The car is an evolution from what we had last year. There's some things that are different, but there's a lot of things that still do the same thing as last season.

"From my side, I feel like I have taken a step forward across the board. There's not been one specific thing that I tried to work on from last year. It's just been trying to find those last hundreds of a second wherever you can, and that's been making a difference.

"I've still lost out on a few poles by a few hundredths of seconds, so I still have some more digging to do, but that's been the big difference for me so far.

"There are still some things we're trying to iron out as a team. The car is clearly very quick, but it's not always the easiest to get the pace out of, but that was the case sometimes last year."

He said he was "proud and satisfied" to have been able to claw back the deficit he faced after finishing ninth in Melbourne, where an off-track moment led to him being stuck on wet grass

for nearly a minute.

"The championship lead is nice but I'm much more proud and satisfied of the work and the reasons behind why I'm leading the championship than actually the fact that I am leading the championship," he said.

World champion Max Verstappen did not attend media day on Thursday because his partner Kelly Piquet is due to give birth to their first child.

A Red Bull spokesperson said, "All is well. We will not be offering any further comment at this time in respect towards the privacy of Max and his family."

The four-time champion is due in Miami for practice on Friday.

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