Mercedes’ early-season dominance, with the team putting together a six-race winning streak, has been blunted in recent weeks with Ferrari and, more recently, McLaren coming to the fore.
Norris won the final race before F1’s summer break, when he comfortably beat Max Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix, having started from pole position.
Norris is back on pole position for the first Grand Prix after the break, after the reigning world champion beat the Mercedes teammates by a tenth of a second in Saturday’s qualifying.
But while Norris has hit a rich vein of form, he is on the back foot in the Drivers’ Championship where he is fifth in the standings on 134 points, 90 behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
However, having watched last season as Max Verstappen overturned a 104-point deficit to Oscar Piastri to then chase Norris in the standings, the Briton says anything could still happen.
It would help, though, if Mercedes made a few mistakes along the way.
“Obviously, we were on the not-so-good end of it last year,” Norris said. “But there’s no point thinking about it. Just focus on tomorrow.
“I honestly don’t care what I’m doing next weekend or the weekend after. It’s nice to know that it’s a possibility.
“Of course I’m hoping both Mercedes get a double DSQ in Vegas like we did and decide not to box in Qatar for a free pit stop.
“So as long as they make the same mistakes, it’ll probably be just as easy.
“But yeah, every year is different. So, I mean, for me, we’re still trying to play catch-up with certain things, but I’m getting everything out of it for now, and that’s all I can be pleased about. So, I’m happy
“It’s still a very long way to go. I’m optimistic, I still believe that it’s possible, and that’s all I need for now.”
This season Norris is the McLaren driver who is getting the most out of the MCL40.
The Briton has spoken a lot in recent years about the McLaren F1 cars not suiting his driving style. He, though, says it’s on the drivers to find a work around.
“I don’t know why,” he said. “It’s just been a thing with our car, and everyone that’s driven our car has said a similar thing. But it changes a lot every year, that’s for sure.
“It’s easy to overthink things. It’s easy to kind of overcomplicate stuff at the same time.
“And at the end of the day, you kind of just got to believe. You’re in Formula 1, you’re one of the best drivers in the world. Have some faith that you kind of know how to automatically change things rather than really consciously digging too deep and overcomplicating at times.
“So, I certainly had that fair share. It’s now become just the norm of driving a McLaren. Seems that every year, even if it’s a pretty similar car, it’s just forget last year and try and start like it’s my first year in F1 again.
“So yeah, always a challenge, it’s part of Formula 1 and it’s part of the challenge you have to overcome.
“Of course, this year again it’s been quite a big change compared to last season, both from a quali point of view and from a race point of view. He seems to have taken a step forward and that’s a good thing to see.”
