Lando Norris rejects F1 title claim and speaks his mind about Oscar Piastri outshining him

Lando Norris insists he will not begin to even think about the title race for another few months. That's despite losing ground to team-mate who has taken the lead of the championship by winning the last three Grands Prix.

The deficit is very narrow, only 16 points with 18 events still to go including this weekend's . But right now the momentum is with the Aussie who has shone brightest despite team-mate Norris' pre-season billing as the title favourite.

Piastri has four Grand Prix victories to his name after just six held, while is still waiting for his first victory in a full race since the opening round in Melbourne. Though he did win the Sprint race in Miami two weeks ago, before his team-mate got the better of him on the Sunday.

But Norris insists he is remaining calm about the situation. And he said on Thursday that it will be the summer break that he starts to possible think about what he needs to do to become F1 champion for the first time.

Asked if he was thinking about the title standings, Norris said: "No, is the answer. I don't care about it and won't think about it. It is easy for things to change. Also are not far behind, are not far behind so they are doing a good job. But we [McLaren] are doing a better job.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

"Every race is important and yes we know they have upgrades and they talk a lot but at the end of the day we need to just do a good job on Sunday. If we keep focusing on ourselves then we will be fine."

Norris believes that his competition with Piastri is good for both of them as drivers and says their will to beat each other is a positive. "It makes for a better team. It makes for better teamwork. You are always going to do a better job if you have a good team-mate," he said.

"Oscar has done a good job. But a lot of it is just focusing on myself. I don't feel like I have been getting the maximum out of myself. We have a good competition. We both acknowledge that we want to beat each other. But I think that is what makes us good team-mates."

Piastri's win in Miami added to success in China, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and has seen him establish himself as the title favourite. He is the first Australian to lead the standings since his manager in 2010.

"When you've won four out of six, it's been a great start," Piastri said. "I've been enjoying the success we've been having on track, but for me what's been very satisfying is all the work we've done behind the scenes to achieve that.

"It's quite a different feeling when you win a race because you feel like you've just gotten by or had good circumstances. But to now be winning because we have an incredibly quick car and I feel like I'm driving well, that's very satisfying. Of course, I've been enjoying standing on the podium as well. But more so the hard work behind the success."