Rand Norris says there’s no surprise anymore what Max Verstappen is doing.
Verstappen pulled out a spectacular qualifying lap on Saturday to take a surprising pole position before the two McLaren drivers, taking Norris off in just 0.012 seconds. It proved important, and the track position was at the heart of Verstappen’s victory on Sunday, and Norris says he has always known and acknowledged what his championship rivals can do.
“I feel like there are a lot of questions like, “Are you surprised by Max?” When he races like a day or like a race,” Norris said. “And I think people always expect me to say yes, but I don’t think there’s a reason to do that. I don’t think I’ve ever had it.
“I always had a lot of respect for Max, but there are moments when you are in the car and driving, you know what’s good and what’s not.
“I know how good he is since I shook my hands in 2015 in 2014. In 2014 I was half my height now.
“So I’m going to say nothing is surprising anymore. But we’re still going to do some good races and we can go to the toes and I believe one day he’s on top and the other day I’ll do that.”
Despite the trio’s trio have won so far, Norris believes Verstappen and teammate Oscar Piastri are not the only ones fighting for this season’s victory, but for now he sees him as the most likely competitor for a driver’s title, given consistency.
“I think we’ll see a bit more competition with the people behind us. Charles wasn’t that slow. There wasn’t a big gap, but I think his second stint on hard was just as fast as me.
“I think we pushed a lot at first. It was a race where you flattened out from the off. It was an easy race. But I think we are the three of us who are the most consistent in that moment.
“But George got faster this weekend. They probably struggled a little more in the third quarter for some reason.
“So I think whenever someone does a little better job for qualifying on Saturday, they can come to those opportunities. But at that moment, I think we’re doing a better job than others, between McLaren, Red Bull and perhaps us.”