The car is flying – Lando Norris knows he is the man to catch this year

Lando Norris has admitted for the first time that he believes he is the favourite to land his maiden world championship following a statement victory at Sunday’s rain-hit Australian Grand Prix.

The British McLaren driver, 25, emerged from a wild, wacky and thrilling season-opening race in Melbourne to lay down a title marker to his rivals.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished second and George Russell third for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton starting eighth and ending only 10th following an underwhelming debut for Ferrari.

Prior to Sunday’s race – the first of 24 this year – Russell said McLaren’s eye-catching speed will make them virtually unbeatable, and claimed the British team can already afford to turn their attention to next season.

“I know George made some comments that we can just turn our focus to 2026,” said Norris.

“But if that is their mentality, then wonderful because that is not the mentality to have.

“We know we have a lot of work to do in this car and if you do relax, you have failed. In Formula One if you start to think everything is good and groovy that is when you get caught.

“But I do think we are the favourites. We are the team to beat. The car is flying. And there will be tracks where we are even better.”

Norris’ title challenge unravelled last season through a series of mistakes by driver and team.

Verstappen, in his inferior Red Bull, clinched the championship with three rounds to spare – and then goaded Norris by claiming he would have won the title in his rival’s McLaren.

In 2024, Norris faced criticism for poor starts and his team’s strategy calls were also not good enough, but both Norris and his team were on point in tricky conditions at Albert Park.

Despite Verstappen enjoying a better start than both McLarens ahead, Norris, as he had vowed to do, got his elbows out by aggressively jinking to his right to counter the Dutchman’s attack.

Then, on lap 44, when the rain arrived, and Norris ran through the gravel ahead of the penultimate corner, McLaren recognised the immediate must to change him to intermediate tyres.

And, even with a damaged car, following his trip through the sandtrap, Norris showed composure to keep Verstappen at bay in a nail-biting conclusion, crossing the line just 0.8 seconds clear.

Norris continued: “To start the season with a win is good enough, but to do it in such a stressful race, one where it is so easy to make a mistake, so easy to ruin everything, was even more rewarding.

“We worked very hard over the winter to prepare for a race like this because we threw away a lot of opportunities last season.

“In Canada and Silverstone (both in changeable conditions), we were not the best at preparing and being decisive. That cost us. But today we were very, very decisive.

“The team calling me to box (for intermediate tyres) half-a-second before I needed to box, even though I was still trying to save the car and making sure I didn’t shunt, was the right call and it was a call that won me the race.”

With McLaren the class of the field, Norris came under pressure from team-mate Oscar Piastri.

At one stage, the Australian was all over Norris’ gearbox before he was ordered to “hold position” by the McLaren pit-wall.

Piastri was later told he was free to race Norris, but then, when running in second, he followed his team-mate off the road on lap 44 and then ended up in the grass at the penultimate corner.

He recovered to take the chequered flag in ninth following a last-lap pass on Hamilton.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said: “We’re starting the season very strong. But as we saw last season Max won six of the first seven races and then had a bit of a drought so we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.

“We definitely have a very quick race car but we see how quickly things change in this sport.”